84 More Tales of the Birds 



the vulgar Jays and Magpies poachers and 

 egg-stealers ? " 



" Do them harm ? " said the Baron, with anger 

 in his voice. " Look at the white farmhouse 

 down yonder ! They are good people that live 

 there, and know us well. For generations my 

 family has been on friendly terms with them ; 

 they know we do not steal, or pick the lambs' 

 eyes, and in hard winters they do not grudge us 

 a duckling or two, for if we were to die out it 

 would be bad luck for them. We have our own 

 estate, which seldom fails us ; we have the wide 

 moorland and are content with it, and can live 

 on it without meddling with old friends' property, 

 like the Buzzards and the Ravens." 



" Then why are those other men so mad 

 against us? " asked the Baroness again. "Is not 

 this our own fortress, our old estate, entailed 

 from father to son as you have so often told me, 

 and called by our name ? Why do they come 

 and trouble us ? " 



" Perhaps the old Raven was right," said the 

 Baron, after a wide sweep ; "he told me he had 

 spent years among them as a captive, and had 



