120 BIRDS AND MAN 



down to about twenty years ago — one pair in 

 the tower on Glastonbury Tor, one on the Ebor 

 rocks, and one at Wookey Hole, two miles from 

 the town. 



But Somerset is no richer in memories of 

 "last ravens" than most English counties. A 

 selection of the most interesting of such memories 

 of ravens expelled from their ancestral breeding- 

 places during the last half-century would fill a 

 volume. In conclusion I will give one of the 

 raven stories I picked up in Somerset. It was 

 related to me by Dr. Livett, who has been the 

 parish doctor in WeUs for over sixty years, and 

 was able to boast, before retiring in 1898, that 

 he was the oldest parish doctor in the kingdom. 

 About the year 1841 he was sent for to attend a 

 cottage woman at Priddy — a desolate little village 

 high up in the Mendips, four or five miles from 

 Wells. He had to remain some hours at the 

 cottage, and about midnight he was with the 

 other members of the family in the living-room, 

 when a loud tapping was heard on the glazed 

 window. As no one in the room moved, and 

 the tapping continued at intervals, he asked 

 why some one did not open the door. They 



