A PRESERVE FOR WILD LIFE 179 



graceful hovering of the kestrel, for the solemn hoot 

 of the owl, for the harsh scream of the jay, for the 

 cheerful chatter of the magpie and the jackdaw? 

 And among all the birds which charm the ear with 

 their resonant cries, the eye by the beauty of their 

 form, their colour or their flight, the historic 

 imagination by the memories of the long past 

 which are bound up with it, the raven, if only he 

 can be induced to revisit and inhabit again the 

 home of his ancestors, will always deserve the fore- 

 most place. 



APPENDIX I 



From The Early South-English Legendary (MS. Bodl. 

 Laud, 108), ed. C. Horstmann (E. E. T. Soc., 1887), pp. 

 188-9. 



MARTYRDOM OF ST VINCENT 



" Ded we wolleth him over-come : zwane we ne mizten a- 



live. 



Into the wilde felde : thdA. bodi ze beren wel blive, 

 Wilde bestes and foules : to-drawe heo schullen in sone." 

 TMs men brouzten ///at bodi Mare : and duden Me 



kingus bone. 



