Rooks using old Materials in building. 649 



ing their companions to assist them, they bring a quan- 

 tity of the mortar which they use in building their nests, 

 and, closing up the entrance, entomb the sparrows alive. 

 The same story is told by Rzaczynski ; and Batgowski, 

 the Jesuit, affirms that he was an eyewitness of the cir- 

 cumstance; while Linnaeus, who was somewhat too cre- 

 dulous of such matters, state it as a fact ascertained. 

 (Fauna Suecica.) M. Montbeillard, on the contrary, says 

 that the instances which he has witnessed of contests of this 

 kind give no countenance to the story. He observed the 

 swallows, indeed, return frequently in the course of the sum- 

 mer, to quarrel with the sparrows, and often wheeling about 

 for a day or two ; but they never attempted to enter the 

 nests, or to shut them up with mortar. (Oiseaux, art. UHi- 

 rondelle.) The whole account, we should say, is a fanciful 

 legend ; for the sparrows, with their strong bills, would in- 

 stantly demolish the thickest wall which the swallows could 

 build, instead of quietly permitting themselves to be impri- 

 soned." (p. 334.) — James H. Fennell. Oct. 4. 1836. 



Coronilla vdria indigenous? — Dr. Broomfield (IX. 603.) 

 expresses his belief of the occurrence of Coronilla varia wild 

 in Devonshire. Certainly the two localities he mentions seem 

 to preclude the possibility of an escape from gardens ; other- 

 wise I should have suspected it, as I have more than once seen 

 it naturalised to a considerable extent. I remember, some 

 years since, one of my brothers bringing me home a lot of 

 specimens of it on his return from travelling, I think, in 

 Wales; but, as I considered it an escaped plant, I did not 

 preserve the specimens, or note the locality. — W. Christy > J r un. 

 Clapham Road, Nov. 5. 

 9flj no s-o-ifjl j.g >lfi9qa oj aqo^ 

 )na flohfivreac i ^ 



m vino Ion .s'l/dan 3q % . 7 . 



Art. VI. Queries ana Answers. 



Rooks using old Materials in building. — Having seen in 

 your Magazine for September a query, " Do not rooks, in pro- 

 viding themselves with nests, habitually appropriate any old 

 nests which have remained from a former year, either by re- 

 pairing and adopting them, or by using all or part of the ma- 

 terials of which they are composed in the construction of their 

 new nests ?" I send you the following answer: — 



Rooks, upon the return of the breeding season, certainly 

 make use of the nests which have remained from the last year. 

 I have seen, in the prong of a poplar tree at Ballingdon, nests 

 which have been repaired from year to year, till they have 

 reached between 3 ft. and 4 ft. in height. Those who make a 

 Vol. IX. — No. 68. 3 b 



