Docility in a Rook. 340 



Docility in a Rook. — I send you the following account of 

 remarkable docility in a rook, thinking it may not be unac- 

 ceptable to some of your readers. A few years back, when 

 residing with Elliston Allen, Esq. on whose estate at Bal- 

 lingdon Grove there is a fine rookery, I procured at the an- 

 nual rook-shooting, several young rooks, and attempted to 

 rear them. They all however died, except one. This I fed 

 at first on raw flesh, taken from the breasts of the young rooks, 

 his companions, which had been shot ; but afterwards accus- 

 tomed him by degrees to relish bread moistened with water. 

 ' Jack,' (for so I called him), soon grew a fine bird, and be- 

 came strong of wing. This, however, so far from inducing 

 him to fly away, was only the means by which he attached 

 himself more closely to my society; and he would frequently 

 follow me over the fields, far from home. His ear was so 

 nice that he could distinguish my voice from all others, and 

 whenever I called, 'Jack' would immediately answer me, by 

 his well-known note. He persisted however in the most ob- 

 stinate silence, whenever he was addressed by others, and all 

 efforts, not excepting the offer of food, were vainly used to 

 induce him to approach them. His fondness for mice was 

 excessive, and he shewed great dexterity in catching them. 

 Occasionally I would take him into an open space, and there 

 let loose some of these little animals for him to catch, taking 

 care however that they had about fifteen yards 'law/ He 

 was very quick in seizing them, which he always did by the 

 neck, holding them at the extreme point of his bill. This, I 

 presume was to prevent their biting him. Jack, like all o- 

 ther pets, acquired a number of amusing actions, too numer- 

 ous to mention ; one of which was calling me every morning 

 by tapping at my bed-room window with his bill. 



As the rookery from which I had taken him was only a 

 short distance from the house, where Jack was always loiter- 

 ing about, it might naturally be supposed that he would have 

 associated with his fellows ; this, however, he sedulously a- 

 voided : and although he would frequently feed in the same 

 field with the whole flock, he always took care to keep at some 

 distance from them. I could always distinguish him from the 

 rest, by several white flight feathers in his wings, occasioned 

 by having had them pulled before he was fledged. I kept 

 Jack till nearly the following breeding season, but just as I 

 was beginning to wonder whether he would choose a com- 

 panion from the flock of wild ones, he was missed, and though 

 I made many enquiries, I could hear no tidings of him, nor 

 have I ever been able to ascertain whether he became the prey 

 of some prowling animal, or fell- a victim to the wanton cru- 

 elty of some juvenile sportsman. — Fred. Wyatt — Camberwell. 



