10 NATURAL HISTORY 



the bridge at the Toy, near Hampton Court, being 

 much decayed, some trees were wanted for the repairs 

 that were fifty feet long without bough, and would 

 measure twelve inches diameter at the little end. 

 Twenty such trees did a purveyor find in this little 

 wood, with this advantage, that many of them answered 

 the description at sixty feet. These trees were sold for 

 twenty pounds a piece. 



In the centre of this grove there stood an oak, which, 

 though shapely and tall on the whole, bulged out into 

 a large excrescence about the middle of the stem. On 

 this a pair of ravens had fixed their residence for such 

 a series of years, that the oak was distinguished by 

 the title of The Raven Tree. Many were the attempts 

 of the neighbouring youths to get at this eyry : the 

 difficulty whetted their inclinations, and each was 

 ambitious of surmounting the arduous task. But, when 

 they arrived at the swelling, it jutted out so in their 

 way, and was so far beyond their grasp, that the most 

 daring lads w r ere awed, and acknowledged the under- 

 taking to be too hazardous. So the ravens built on, 

 nest upon nest, in perfect security, till the fatal day 

 arrived in which the wood was to be levelled. It was 

 in the month of February, when those birds usually 

 sit. The saw was applied to the butt, the wedges were 

 inserted into the opening, the woods echoed to the 

 heavy blows of the beetle or mallet, the tree nodded to 

 its fall; but still the dam sat on. At last, when it 

 gave way, the bird was flung from her nest; and, 

 though her parental affection deserved a better fate, 

 was whipped down by the twigs, w r hich brought her 

 dead to the ground. 



and stately ; their bark glossy and beautiful ; their tops small and thinly 

 provided with branches; and their roots, in the same way, spare and 

 scanty, but in due proportion to the tops- Trees, on the other hand, in 

 open exposures, have their stems stout and short; their bark thick and 

 coarse ; their tops extensive and spreading ; their branches often reaching 

 to the ground ; and their roots extensive like their tops, and throwing 

 themselves out on every side. RENNIE. 



