DESERTED HOMES. 155 



one spot in Surrey where the carrion-crow can be 

 found breeding. I do not state as a fact that there 

 are no breeding-places left, but I do not know of 

 one. The wilds of Sussex and of Hampshire would 

 be probably the most likely places in which to find a 

 nest or two at the present time. 



A forsaken nesting-place fronts a mansion in one 

 of the great hollows of the Surrey hills. I had full 

 particulars about that pair of birds and their nest 

 from one of our woodland landlords, long before the 

 house was built, or even thought about. The man 

 was brimful of practical natural history, besides 

 which he had a leaning to what he called the 

 "wertues o' plants"; and he possessed a very old 

 Herbal, which was much conned over in leisure 

 hours. It treated of the relation of the plants to 

 the planets, and was most firmly believed in by him. 

 He certainly was clever in making simple household 

 remedies for children, and some of his patients were 

 of larger growth ; but he never shot at those crows. 



The fact was, a smuggler's track ran under the 

 line of great firs ; and as the place was, from the 

 very nature of the locality, avoided when the sun 

 got down below the hills, only those went there who 



