io The Natural History of Selborne 



twelve inches diameter at the little end. Twenty such trees 

 did a purveyor find in this little wood, with this advantage, 

 that many of them answered the description at sixty feet. 

 These trees were sold for twenty pounds apiece. 



In the centre of this grove there stood an oak, which, 

 though shapely and tall on the whole, bulged out into a large 

 excrescence about the middle of the stem. On this a pair of 

 ravens had fixed their residence for such a series of years, 

 ihat the oak was distinguished by the title of the Raven Tree. 

 Many were the attempts of the neighbouring youths to get at 

 this eyry : the difficulty whetted their inclinations, and each 

 was ambitious of surmounting the arduous task. But, when 

 they arrived at the swelling, it jutted out so in their way, and 

 was so far beyond their grasp, that the most daring lads were 

 awed, and acknowledged the undertaking to be too hazardous : 

 so the ravens built on, nest upon nest, in perfect security, till 

 the fatal day arrived in which the wood was to be levelled. 

 It was in the month of February, when these birds usually sit. 

 The saw was applied to the butt, the wedges were inserted 

 into the opening, the woods echoed to the heavy blow of 

 the beetle or malle or mallet, the tree nodded to its fall; 

 but still the dam sat on. At last, when it gave way, the bird 

 was flung from her nest; and, though her parental affection 

 deserved a better fate, was whipped down by the twigs, which 

 brought her dead to the ground. 



