THE CLERK AND THE LAST RAVENS 257 



that ancient noble domain I do not know, but it is 

 certain that they continued to breed annually in the 

 park until about the year 1885. The " ravens' clump " 

 where the birds had their nest still flourishes, but 

 the more famous, immeasurably older Gospel Oak which 

 was an ancient tree when the cathedral at Winchester 

 was built and is believed to be the tree under which 

 S. Augustine stood when he preached to the heathen 

 in these parts, is, alas ! dead for ever, and its hollow 

 ruinous trunk is slowly crumbling to dust. 



These Avington ravens were a good deal persecuted, 

 but invariably when one lost its life the other would 

 disappear for a few days to find and bring home a new 

 mate. At last some scoundrel got both birds, and 

 that was the end, for of course no others came to fill 

 their place. The old clerk related that when he was 

 a young man he worked for some years as under-wood- 

 man on the estate, and he had many exciting stories to 

 tell of his tree-climbing feats. In those distant days 

 — about 1850 — climbing contests were common among 

 the men who worked in the woods and parks, and he 

 was the champion tree-climber in the place. One 

 day, when coming from work with the other men, a 

 squirrel was seen to run up an exceedingly tall isolated 

 fir tree, and he, in a moment of madness, undertook 

 to catch and bring it down. Up after the squirrel he 

 went until he could go no farther, and the little thing 

 was still above him, afraid to jump down and give him 

 a chance to capture it, clinging to a slender branch 

 directly over his head and out of reach. He then 



I? 



