THE STARLINGS' EVE 



by-and-by, many of the pheasants will awake and 

 call loudly. At ten o'clock one night lately it 

 thundered, and the pheasants answered each peal 

 with a loud crow. 



The Last Ravens 



It is delightful to prove the truth of a floating 

 village tradition about some ancient custom or rare 

 animal. At Tangley Clumps, ravens, according to 

 one or two old folk, nested many years ago. The 

 gaunt pine trees, searched through by the north 

 wind, have yet reached a considerable size and 

 height ; their dark tops look the very place for a 

 raven's nest. But no raven has been seen in the 

 place since I can remember, and I half doubted the 

 tradition, till lately, when I have had letters from a 

 former rector and curate of parishes in the district. 

 They prove that the old folk remembered rightly. 

 The curate, writing to his friend about "Wild Life 

 in Hampshire Highlands," says : " Dewar writes 

 about Tangley Clumps without any mention of 

 ravens ; and, now I come to think of it, I seem to 

 have heard that they forsook the spot, and never 

 nested there again, after their young were taken, at 

 my instigation, in 1862. That business is on my 

 conscience. I have to this day a lively sense of the 

 pained surprise which came over me when my 

 wretched accomplice appeared before me with those 

 three young birds. I had thought it impossible for 



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