TIGER'S TEETH 103 



and many farmers, especially in the remote 

 districts, found it hard enough to live, with- 

 out being preyed upon by ravens. Still, 

 the ravens were now heavily protected by 

 law ; in the village it was reckoned that 

 any one who took their eggs or shot the 

 parent birds would be imprisoned for at 

 least a month. By reason of their rarity, a 

 certain visiting bird-fancier from the town 

 had mentioned that he would give ten 

 shillings a bird for any fledgelings brought 

 to him. It was a grand price, they agreed 

 at the Nightcrow Inn; not knowing, of 

 course, that the dealer would make a huge 

 and assured profit by sending them to 

 London. 



Along one of the sheep-wrought paths, 

 among the springing brake ferns and black- 

 thorns, sea-bleached holly-bushes and gorse 

 clusters, just beginning to respond to the 

 sunbeams, the three men went that spring 

 morning. Already the larks were singing 

 high in an azure sky, the kestrels hanging 



L.S. H 



