LAWS OF GOVERNMENT AMONG LOWER ANIMALS. 679 



completed nest and try to remove some of the sticks. But the 

 inmate, reaching over the edge, gave the thief a good peck, where- 

 upon he at once new away without attempting to defend himself 

 or to retaliate. Similar cases may be witnessed among other 

 sjDecies of birds which live in communities. 



It may here be pertinently asked whether the laws of the 

 lower animals protect persons as well as property, or whether 

 they resemble the criminal code of England, which imprisons the 

 thief and dismisses the ruffian with a paltry fine in fact, a retro- 

 spective license. In reply, I must point to the " rogue elephants " 

 of India and Ceylon, and to the outlawed buffaloes of South Af- 

 rica. The gratuitous malignity of these outlaws has been noted 

 by many travelers, and it has been ascribed to their expulsion 

 from the herd. This is confounding cause with effect : they are 

 banished for being quarrelsome and for repeated breaches of the 

 peace. 



But to return to the rookery : " crow courts," or crow parlia- 

 ments " as they are locally called, have been observed in various 

 districts. These are prolonged meetings in which, after much 

 noise, sometimes proceeding from one bird, sometimes from a 

 small number, and then again from the general assembly, a single 

 rook is attacked by the community and put to death. These exe- 

 cutions do not seem to be connected with any inroad upon prop- 

 erty, since they are not confined to the nesting season, the great 

 time for robberies. There is hence reason to suspect that we have 

 here proceedings for offenses against the person, or against the 

 general well-being of rookdom. 



In districts where carrion crows abound, similar trials and exe- 

 cutions have also been observed among these bold marauders. 



Among rooks, further, laws of a different kind may be traced, 

 the exact purport of which has not been discovered, but which 

 evidently subserve a public purpose rather than the mere regula- 

 tion of private disputes. For instance, in a grove tenanted by a 

 flourishing rookery, one particular tree, seemingly eligible enough, 

 was never selected for nest-building purposes. If a pair of young 

 birds made the attempt, they were prevented and the foundations 

 of their house regularly removed until they conformed to the cus- 

 tom of their fellow-citizens and built on some authorized tree. 

 In this one case a clew to the proceedings was furnished by acci- 

 dent. A violent storm suddenly overthrew the tree, which, though 

 apparently sound and vigorous, was inwardly decayed beneath 

 the surface of the ground. How the rooks discovered the untrust- 

 worthy condition of the tree is a question interesting, indeed, but 

 beside our purpose. 



The existence of such laws proves that the rooks have made 

 some advances in civilization, and deem it a duty to protect the 



