Raven. 227 



sheep. Indeed, the country people believe that if a Raven flies 

 over the fold, a sheep will be sure to die in the course of a short 

 time ; for the shepherds think they can scent approaching death 

 in the flock. 



Savernake Forest. I have many records of the Ravens which 

 once dwelt here, but I can hear of no survivors. Mr. George 

 Butler, of Kennet, recollects a Raven-tree in Marlborough Forest 

 when he was a schoolboy fifty years ago. Mr. C. E. Ponting, of 

 Lockeridge, says that when he lived at Lye Hill, on the southern 

 edge of Savernake Forest, prior to 1870, Ravens built annually 

 in a clump of tall silver spruce known as Bittam Clump ; this 

 lies between Lye Hill and the Column Avenue, leading out of 

 the Salisbury road. Mr. C. Tanner, jun., informs me that the 

 keepers sometimes now see Ravens crossing the woods very high 

 up, but they no longer alight on the trees or on the ground at 

 Savernake. 



Ramsbury. There was certainly a Raven's tree here, as indeed 

 there should be, considering that f Ramsbury ' is but a contracted 

 form of ' Ravensbury.' Moreover there was a Raven-tree here 

 within the memory of living man, for my friend, Mr. C. Tanner, 

 jun., has spoken with a man who had climbed the tree; but I 

 have failed to find out any particulars about it. Nor does the 

 squire, Sir F. Burdett, nor the vicar, the Rev. H. Baber, know 

 anything about it, save that there is a most venerable patriarch 

 of a tree, an elm of prodigious size, hollow as to its interior, 

 computed to be six hundred years old, now standing in the 

 village, in what is proudly called ' the square.' Perchance this 

 was the Raven-tree of Ramsbury ! 



Cricklade. My old friend, the Rev. F. Dyson tells me that 

 though there are no nests or birds there now, there is a Raven- 

 hurst in Bray don, in his parish of Cricklade, which I make no 

 doubt was so called from having been, probably for a long period, 

 the quondam habitation of some Ravens. 



Ravenshurst (near Charlton Park). Lord Suffolk informed 

 me that though he knew nothing of any Ravens at Charlton, 

 there was a wood about four miles east of that park, the property 



152 



