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 these birds usually sit. The saw was applied to the butt,—the wedges were inserted into the opening,—the woods echoed to the heavy blow of the beetle or mall or mallet,—the tree nodded to its 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.[e1]
note to letter ii.
e1 ↑ The landrail, that shyest of birds, often sits upon its eggs on the ground in the hayfield until it is slain by the scythe of the mowers. Instances innumerable of the tenacity with which birds will sit on their eggs when they are nearly hatched may be cited. I once lifted a hen blackbird off her nest, and she came back again when we had moved a few feet away. All birds and animals are bold in the defence of their young, and it seems strange that this affection should so completely vanish as it does when the young are able to shift for themselves.
LETTER III.
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 ploughed up in the chalky fields, near the side of the Down, and given to me for the singularity of its appearance, which, to an incurious eye, seems like a petrified fish of about four inches
