OF HARTING. 257 



season, and is permanently resident, as the following ex- 

 tract from a letter written some years since will show : 



" I have a strong suspicion that the raven our 

 raven was rehearsing his love song on the morning 

 of New Year's day. The weather was not very in- 

 spiring certainly, as you will perhaps have no objection 

 to admit when I tell you that it was under cover of 

 one of the densest of cold fogs out of London, that I 

 approached the foot of the tree on which he was 

 soliloquizing. I remained an unsuspected listener for 

 some minutes, during which I had an opportunity of 

 convincing myself that the raven really had ' music in 

 his soul.' From the date of this discovery, that im- 

 mortal bird of the fable stands excused in my estima- 

 tion for having, under a sudden impulse of pardonable 

 vanity, yielded to the insidious flattery of the fox ; 

 and I very sincerely regret that he should have sus- 

 tained so severe a loss as he is recorded to have done 

 on the occasion. I think, however, the raven of my 

 acquaintance, notwithstanding his vocal talents, would 

 have behaved with more discretion ; he is unequivocally 

 shy of every member of the canine family, otherwise I 

 might have heard more of his song than I did ; but an 

 unlucky repetition which he made of a short mono- 

 syllable in falsetto, resulted in such a correct imitation 

 of the bark of a dog, that one of the spaniels my com- 

 panions, took umbrage at it, and the vocalist instantly 

 took flight. 



" In a work recently published, ' Murray's Handbook 

 for Kent and Sussex,' it is stated that the only pair of 

 ravens in this county is at Parham Park, this is an 

 error, and for the honour of this favoured spot I can 

 fearlessly assert against all comers that the ravenhood 

 of Uppark is a time-honoured institution, the origin of 

 which is only to be guessed at, and may, for aught I 

 know, date from the days of Gilbert White, or a more 

 remote period. At all events it is a fact familiar to 

 almost every person of observation hereabouts, that 



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