Raven. 231 



quite disappeared from the district round Mildenhall. Major 

 Heneage has never seen or heard of one at Compton Bassett, nor 

 any place nearer than Spye Park. Mr. Gladstone has never 

 known any at Bowden Park. Finally, Sir R. H. Pollen says 

 there are none in the immediate neighbourhood of Rodbourne, 

 but adds that a few years back some were seen at Bell Farm, 

 Stanton Saint Quintin, the property of Lord Radnor, but they 

 were not known to breed in the place, and were only seen 

 occasionally. 



Before I take leave of the Wiltshire Ravens, I must say a few 

 words about the tame specimen which, as I have already said, 

 the Rev. G. Marsh procured from Draycote Park, and which 

 lived for years at Sutton Benger, and was a source of infinite 

 amusement to Mr. Marsh and his friends. I could fill several 

 pages with anecdotes of his quaint manners and clever tricks and 

 cunning ways, and the distinct sentences which that bird uttered 

 seemed quite marvellous to those who were not familiar with the 

 species, but I must content myself with one anecdote. Whenever 

 his owner put his open hand down towards his back, as if about 

 to stroke or caress him, the bird would turn his head round, look 

 up at his master, and say as distinctly as any human being could 

 speak, ' Good-bye, old fellow, good-bye, old cock 1' and then hop 

 on a few steps. Now it chanced one day that the bird escaped 

 from the outhouse in which it was necessary to confine him, on 

 account of his mischievous tricks and his thievish propensities, 

 and had wandered off, as he had often done before, across a 

 meadow outside the village, and not far from the high road. 

 But a commercial traveller who was driving by, seeing what he 

 conjectured to be'a wounded rook, descended from his gig and ran 

 across the grass, thinking to secure the bird ; but his dismay as 

 well as astonishment may better be conceived than described, 

 when on putting out his open hand to seize his prize, the Raven, 

 looking round at him with a knowing leer, exclaimed in most 

 distinct terms, 'Good-bye, old fellow, good-bye, old cock!' and 

 then hopped on as was his wont. But the traveller took to his 

 heels, jumped into his gig as fast as possible, and drove back to 



