92 FRESH WOODS. 



that they are not a bit the less thieves and 

 vagabonds than their cockney relations, and 

 that they are as well inclined to tear each 

 other's nests to pieces ; but with less excuse, for 

 they live in the midst of woods where building 

 material is abundant, and stealing from each 

 other seems to be more bother and trouble 

 than picking up twigs for themselves. But 

 they do speak their traditional language very 

 clearly and distinctly, caw-caw, and of course 

 that dual word is only the key to their very 

 extensive vocabulary. They have words of 

 love and words of hate, words of cursing and 

 words of swearing words, too, of preaching 

 and exhortation, and, as Gilbert White says: 

 " in the breeding season they attempt some- 

 times, in the gaiety of their hearts, to sing, 

 but with no great success." But at all times 

 caw-caw is the root of their language. 

 I ought to know, for 



" When I was young, ah ! woful when ! 

 Ah ! the change 'twixt now and then ! " 



many a time have I, at the peril of my neck, 

 scrambled up from the shoulders of a com- 

 panion to the first branch, and by gripping 

 the tall trees with arms and knees, to the 

 very tops amongst their nests, and then did 

 I not hear the thousand caw-caws of the old 

 ones flitting round me? and I am certain 



