1 66 The Scottish Naturalist. 



Rooks are also birds of prey, but in this position they are some- 

 what cowardly, as they prey only on almost featherless younglings* 

 They kill in this state the progeny of pheasants, partridges, and a 

 few of the young of such birds as the blackbird and thrush. They 

 also, but seldom, kill small leverets and very young rabbits. They 

 also occasionally attack and injure weakly lambs, but I do not 

 know personally of a case in which they have killed a lamb. 

 What I have above stated as to the food on which the rooks live 

 is from information which was in my possession, either furnished 

 by friends or from my own observations, before I perused the 

 returns received in the schedule already referred to. Before 

 giving some extracts from these returns, I may state shortly a few 

 reasons why I think rooks have of late years somewhat changed in 

 regard to the food on which they live. There are several not un- 

 likely causes why they have got keener for eggs and quarry ; and 

 the taste for quarry, which was shown at a much earlier date than 

 the taste for young birds, may have led to the slaughter of the 

 innocents. About fifty years ago, most of the cultivated land of 

 the Borders was, broadly speaking, in a natural state, for the 

 manures used were of a kind likely to tend to increase rather than 

 otherwise the number of worms, grubs, and insects on which rooks- 

 naturally feed. Now, however, from the almost universal use of 

 lime and other quickening manures and stimulants, not a third of 

 the number of grubs and earth-worms and slugs is in the soil that 

 there was then, maugre the increased fatness of the land. As a. 

 proof of this, let any one examine the furrows when they are being 

 made in a field upon which lime has been somewhat recently laid, 

 and the same in an adjoining field to which no lime has been 

 applied. The preponderance of animal life in the shape of earth- 

 worms, &c, in the unlimed field will be found to be great. The 

 fact is that lime kills to a large extent both wormlings and the 

 larv?e of numerous insects on which rooks feed. Indeed, most of 

 the older husbandmen can testify that in some fields where grubs- 

 were occasionally little short of a plague before the quickening 

 artificial manures were applied, earth-worms and grubs are now 

 but little known. Now, rooks are beyond dispute increased im- 

 mensely in numbers of late years, especially since the gun-tax was 

 put in force ; while, as above shown, there is a falling-off in their 

 natural food ; hence, they have taken to devouring on a pretty- 

 extensive scale very valuable farm produce, and, like some less 

 honest bipeds, to * trespass in pursuit of game, for they are omni- 

 vorous.' It should, however, be remembered in their favour that 



