224 Comidce. 



near Gallows Hill, on the Breamore property ; but for the last 

 ten or twelve years they have not bred on the estate. They have, 

 however, within the last few years been seen by the keeper, 

 flying over, presumably on a foraging excursion. And in a 

 second letter, written a few days after, Mr. Hulse adds, ' Curiously 

 enoup-h I only heard yesterday from one of the keepers that n 

 pair of Ravens had been seen on Breamore Downs the day 

 before yesterday. It is supposed that they came after the dead 

 lambs, a kind of food of which they are very fond. I believe 

 they breed now, as they have done of late, at Rockbourne, about 

 three miles from Breamore.' In this immediate neighbourhood, 

 the Rev. C. W. Hony, Vicar of Bishops Cannings, met with tho 

 last Ravens he remembers to have seen in the county, viz., a 

 pair which he saw some eight or nine years ago, when riding 

 over a farm at Damerham, at the extreme southern point of the 

 county of Wilts. 



Fonthill. I learn through the courtesy of Mr. Lightfoot, and 

 on the authority of Mr. A. Morrison, that there used to be a 

 Raven's nest regularly every year just opposite his house at 

 Fonthill; but he does not know if it is still tenanted, and 

 neither have I been able to get reliable information on tins 

 point. 



Longleat. I have the authority of Lord Bath for saying that 

 a pair of Ravens used to build in a particular tree by the pond 

 at Longleat, but the tree was blown down two years ago. And 

 I have the evidence of the head-keeper, to whom Lord Bath 

 most kindly wrote for information, that the last nest he re- 

 members was in Swancomb Bottom, about four years ago, and 

 the nest is still to be seen there. He adds, ' There have been 

 three Ravens in the upper woods all this winter' (1887). Pos- 

 sibly by this time there may be a nest. 



CornbiM^y (Tilshead). The Rev. H. V. Thompson tells me, on 

 the authority of Major Fisher, who was then hawking rooks in 

 that neighbourhood, that about twenty-five years ago a pair of 

 Ravens frequented some very old trees at Cornbury ; but when 

 the trees were cut down by Mr. Kelsey's father, they disappeared. 



