258 Destruction of Rookeries. 



ancient days a forest, in all probabilitj-, stood here- 

 abouts. It seems reasonable to suppose that in one 

 way or another the regular flight of. the second army 

 of rooks passing down into this district was originally 

 attracted by the trees. Three suggestions arise out 

 of the circumstances. 



The wood in which both streams of rooks roost at 

 night stands on the last slope of the downs ; behind 

 it to the south extend the hills, and the open tilled 

 upland plains ; below it northwards are the meadows. 

 It has, therefore, much the appearance of the last 

 surviving remnant of the ancient forest. There has 

 been a wood there time out of mind : there are 

 references to the woods of the locality dating from 

 the sixteenth century. Now if we suppose (and such 

 seems to have been really the case) the unenclosed 

 woodlands below gradual!}' cleared of trees thereby 

 doubtless destroying many rookeries the rooks 

 driven away would naturally take refuge in the 

 wood remaining. There the enclosure protected 

 them, and there the trees, being seldom or never 

 cut down, or if cut down felled with judgment and 

 with a view to future timber, grew to great size and 

 in such large groups as they prefer. But as birds 

 are creatures of habit, their descendants in the fiftieth 

 generation would still revisit the old places in the 

 meadows. 



Secondly, although so many successive ' throws ' 

 of timber thinned out the trees, yet there may still 

 be found more groups and rows of elms and oak in 

 this direction than in any other ; that is, a line 

 drawn northwards from the remaining wood passes 

 through a belt of well-timbered country. On either 



