234 Wild Life in a Southern County 



particular locality, to the east and to the north. Some- 

 thing may perhaps be learnt by examining the routes along 

 which they fly. 



The second division — that which goes northwards, after 

 flying little more than a mile in a straight line — passes 

 over Wick Farm, and disperses gradually in the meadows 

 surrounding and extending far below it. The rooks whose 

 nests are placed in the elms of the Warren belong to this 

 division, and, as their trees are the nearest to the great 

 central roosting-place, they are the first to quit the line 

 of march in the morning, descending to feed in the fields 

 around their property. On the other hand, in the evening, 

 as the army streams homewards, they are the last to rise 

 and join the returning host. 



So that there are often rooks in and about the Warren 

 later in the evening after those whose habitations are 

 farther away have gone by, for, having so short a distance 

 to fly, they put off the movement till the last moment. 

 Before watches became so common a possession, the 

 labouring people used, they say, to note the passage over- 

 head of the rooks in the morning in winter as one of their 

 signs of time, so regular was their appearance ; and if the 

 fog hid them, the noise from a thousand black wings and 

 throats could not be missed. 



If, from the rising ground beyond the Warren or from 

 the downs beyond that, the glance is allowed to travel 

 slowly over the vale northwards, instead of the innumer- 

 able meadows which are really there, it will appear to 

 consist of one vast forest. Of the hamlet not far distant 

 there is nothing visible but the white wall of a cottage, 

 perhaps, shining in the sun, or the pale blue smoke curling 

 upwards. This wooded appearance is caused by timber 

 trees standing in the hedgerows, in the copses at the 



