WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 287 



this particular locality, to the east and to the north. 

 Something may perhaps be learnt by examining the 

 routes along which they fly. 



The second division that which goes northwards, 

 after flying little more than a mile in a straight line - 

 passes over Wick Farm, and disperses gradually in 

 the meadows surrounding and extending far below 

 it. The rooks whose nests are placed in the elms of 

 the Warren belong to this division, and, as their trees 

 are the nearest to the great central roosting-place, 

 they are the first to quit the line of march in the 

 morning, descending to feed in the fields around their 

 property. On the other hand, in the evening, as the 

 army streams homewards, they are the last to rise 

 and join the returning host. 



So that there are often rooks in and about the 

 Warren later in the evening after those whose habita- 

 tions are farther away have gone by, for, having so 

 short a distance to fly, they put off the movement till 

 the last moment. Before watches became so common 

 a possession, the labouring people used, they say, to 

 note the passage overhead of the rooks in the morning 

 in winter as one of their signs of time, so regular was 

 their appearance ; and if the fog hid them, the noise 

 from a thousand black wings and throats could not 

 be missed. 



If from the rising ground beyond the Warren, or 

 from the downs beyond that, the glance is allowed to 

 travel slowly over the vale northwards, instead of the 

 innumerable meadows which are really there, it will 



