BIRD-LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 



blown out several times, but Is always rebuilt in 

 much the same spot. Carrion Crows may be seen 

 almost everywhere along the country-side; they 

 are great wanderers, but appear to be attached to 

 certain roosting places in the woods. Want of 

 systematic game preserving in the county is prob- 

 ably the secret of this bird's abundance. Few 

 people molest him, and the little that is done to 

 work his destruction has no very perceptible 

 result in thinning his numbers. With all his 

 misdeeds, long may those numbers be maintained. 

 There are few English shires left where he can 

 enjoy such immunity as in Devonshire. The 

 Magpie and the Jay, round about this portion of 

 the county at all events, enjoy a similar immunity, 

 and are consequently fairly abundant. We cannot 

 wander far in this locality without hearing the 

 welcome rark rark of the Jay, or seeing the hand- 

 some fellows trooping along the wooded bottoms, 

 or flitting off across the fields to the shelter of the 

 woods and plantations. Half-a-dozen or more 

 may frequently be seen together, especially in 

 autumn, attracted perhaps to one particular oak- 

 tree that may chance to bear exceptionally fine 

 acorns. We have seen Jays flutter at the end of a 



