THE TEMPLES OF THE HILLS 265 



are on land owned by the farmers themselves, who keep 

 their own shootings, and do not employ a gamekeeper. 



One day I was standing under a low oak-tree at the 

 highest point in an immense wood, where the sight 

 could range for a long distance over the tree-tops, 

 when I was astonished at the sight of a carrion-crow 

 flying low over the trees, and coming straight to- 

 wards me. It was a wonderful thing to see in that 

 place where I had spent several days, and had seen no 

 crow and no bird of any kind banned by the keepers. 

 Yet this was one of the largest woods in Wiltshire, in 

 appearance an absolutely wild forest, covering many 

 miles without a village or house within a mile of its 

 borders on any side, and with no human occupants 

 except the four or five keepers who ranged it to look 

 after its millionaire owner's pheasants. The crow did 

 not catch sight of me until within about forty yards 

 from the tree under which I stood, whereupon, with a 

 loud croak of terror, he turned instantly, and dashed 

 away at right-angles to his original course at his utmost 

 speed. 



Leaving the great wood, I went a few miles away to 

 visit one of the large unprotected clumps, and found 

 there a family of four carrion-crows two adults and 

 two young ; at my approach they flapped heavily 

 from the tree in which they were resting, and flew 

 slowly to another about fifty yards away, and sat there 

 peering at me and uttering loud caws as if protesting 

 against the intrusion. 



At another unprotected clump on a low down I 



