EARLY SPRING IN SAVERNAKE FOREST 227 



whole mass came slowly overhead as if to explore ; 

 but when the foremost birds were directly over 

 me the flock divided into two columns, which 

 deployed to the right and left, and at a distance 

 poured again into the trees. There could not 

 have been fewer than two thousand birds in the 

 flock that came over me, and they were probably 

 all building in that part of the forest. 



The daw, whether tame or distrustful of man, 

 is always interesting. Here I was even more 

 interested in the jays, and it was indeed chiefly 

 for the pleasure of seeing them, when they are 

 best to look at, that I visited this forest. I had 

 also formed the idea that there was no place in 

 England where the jay could be seen to better 

 advantage, as they are, or until recently were, 

 exceedingly abundant at Savernake, and were 

 not in constant fear of the keeper and his ever- 

 lasting gun. Here one could witness their early 

 spring assemblies, when the jay, beautiful at all 

 times, is seen at his very best. 



It is necessary to say here that this habit of 

 the jay does not appear to be too well known to 

 our ornithologists. When I stated in a small 

 work on British Birds a few years ago that jays 



