OF SELBORNE 5 



bridge at the I'oy, near Hampton Court, being much decayed, 

 some trees were wanted for the repairs that were fifty feet long 

 without bough, and would measure twelve inches diameter at the 

 little end. Twenty such trees did a purveyor find in this little 

 wood, with this advantage, that many of them answered the 

 description at sixty feet. These trees were sold for twenty 

 pounds apiece. 



In the centre of this grove there stood an oak, which, though 

 shapely and tall on .the whole, bulged out into a large excrescence 

 about the middle of the stem. On this a pair of ravens had fixed 

 their residence for such a series of years, that the oak was dis- 

 tinguished by the title of The Raven-tree. Many were the attempts 

 of the neighbouring youths to get at this eyry : the difficulty 

 whetted their inclinations, and each was ambitious of surmounting 

 the arduous task. But, when they arrived at the swelling, it 

 jutted out so in their way, and was so far beyond their grasp, 

 that the most daring lads were awed, and acknowledged the 

 undertaking to be too hazardous. So the ravens built on, nest 

 upon nest, in perfect security, till the fatal day arrived in which 

 the wood was to be levelled. It was in the month of February, 

 when those birds usually sit. The saw was applied to the butt, 

 the wedges were inserted into the opening, the woods echoed to 

 the heavy blows of the beetle or mallet, the tree nodded to it's 

 fall ; but still the dam sat on. At last, when it gave way, the 

 bird was flung from her nest ; and, though her parental affection 

 deserved 'a better fate, was whipped down by the twigs, which 

 brought her dead to the ground. 



LETTER III. 



TO THE SAME. 



The fossil-shells of this district, and sorts of stone, such as have 

 fallen within my observation, must not be passed over in silence. 

 And first I must mention, as a great curiosity, a specimen that 

 was plowed up in the chalky fields, near the side of the Down, 

 and given to me for the singularity of it's appearance, which, to 

 an incurious eye, seems like a petrified fish of about four inches 

 long, the cardo passing for an head and mouth. It is in reality 

 a bivalve of the Linncean Genus of Myiilus, and the species of Crista 

 Gain ; called by Lister, Rastellum ; by Rumphius, Ostreum plicatum 



