8 NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE 



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 were awed, and acknow- 

 ledged the undertaking 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 these birds usually sit. 

 The saw was applied to the butt, the wedges were 

 inserted into the opening, the woods echoed to the heavy 

 blow of the beetle or malle or mallet, the tree nodded to 

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

 the bird was flung from her nest ; and, though her parental 

 affection deserved a better fate, was whipped down by the 

 twigs, which brought her dead to the ground. 1 



1 Sir William Jardine comments on this curious instance : " We have always 

 found the Raven, whether nesting upon a rock or upon a tree, most unapproachable 

 after she had been disturbed or alarmed." The pair of Ravens, which nested in 

 Avington Park year after year, were also absolutely unapproachable during the 

 breeding season. [R. B. S.] 



