76 WHISPERS FROM FAIRYLAND. {ir.

 

rooks, acting upon the glorious principle of universal
equality, recognise in our community the undoubted fact
that we all descend from common ancestors who existed
in remote antiquity, and we require no written proof to
establish the fact that we are all illustrious, and all of
high descent. I could tell you where I was born, aye,
to the very tree and to the very nest. I could de-
scribe the place which had the honour of witnessing my
birth. But I forbear. There may be those yet alive
to whom a minute description of the locality might be
painful, and no right-minded rook ever willingly gives
pain to anyone.

Yet as I recall the old familiar scene, I feel a
strange longing to make others acquainted with the
spot which I still love so dearly. How well do I re-
member the place! The group of waving elms in which
our nests were built, standing as they did at the extreme
end of a wood which joined close up to a farm-yard,
had the double advantage of proximity to rich corn-
fields on one side of the aforesaid wood, and pleasant
meadows, well stocked with friendly sheep, on the other.

There was the pond too, at the end of the farmyard
nearest the rookery, whereon sundry ducks quacked
a homely accompaniment to our domestic cawing, and
frantic hens cackled in agony over the supposed
danger of the little ducklings whom they had unwit-
tingly hatched. The orchard hard by, with its apple and
cherry trees laden with luxuriant fruit ; the large wal-
nut tree famous for its size and quantity of nuts, which
stood opposite the stable; the high old-fashioned
hedges which enclosed the meadows; the winding paths
cut through the home wood, and the trim old-fashioned