110 BIRDS OF MARLBOROUGH. 



years, owing to some inscrutable reason, as the year pro- 

 ceding their desertion they certainly reared three of their 

 young in safety. The tree was scaled in 1857, and three 

 out of six eggs were taken ; of these three, two were per- 

 fectly fresh, while in the third there was a live bird : thus 

 it would seem that the Raven occasionally does what the 

 Barn Owl has been observed to do frequently, viz. lay its 

 eggs at considerable intervals, leaving those last laid to 

 be hatched by the. warmth of the young birds. Some eggs 

 taken from the same nest several years before were success- 

 fully hatched in a Rook's nest in the Wilderness. A pair 

 of these birds may still not unfrequently be seen flying over 

 the Cricket-ground. 



Corvus corone. Carrion Crow. 



A pair of these birds may be found during the breeding- 

 season in almost every spruce-fir plantation round Marl- 

 borough : Long Copse and the Four Mile Copse are favourite 

 resorts. The nest is also frequently found in the highest 

 trees in the beech avenues of the Forest. 



Corvus comix. Hooded Crow. 



This bird is occasionally seen in winter on the Marl- 

 borough Downs. A specimen was shot some years ago near 

 the Devil's Den. 



Corvus frugilegus. Rook. 

 Corvus monedula. Jackdaw. 



Pica caudata. Magpie. 



To be found in most plantations round Marlborough. It 

 frequents the West Woods and Polton Copse in great num- 

 bers, where its domed nest is in winter one of the most 

 conspicuous objects. There is a common opinion that this 

 bird builds two or three nests near together, in order to 



