514 Supposed Pouch under the Bill of the Rook, 



gamekeeper, that cholera morbus to the feathered race, fool- 

 ishly imagines that he proves his attention to his master's 

 interests, by producing a disgusting exhibition of impaled 

 birds on the kennel walls. Nay, show me, if you can, a young 

 squire, idling from college, who does not try to persuade the 

 keeper that it is his bounden duty to exterminate all manner 

 of owls, ravens, carrion crows, hawks, herons, magpies, jays, 

 daws, woodpeckers, ringdoves, and such like vermin, from his 

 father's estate. With this destroying force to contend with, 

 in the shape of keeper, squire, and henwife, it is not to be 

 wondered at that naturalists have so few opportunities of 

 watching individuals of the pie tribe through the entire course 

 of their incubation; which individuals, if persecution did not 

 exist, would be seen, in the breeding season, perpetually pass- 

 ing to and fro, with their mouths full of food for their young. 



In my little peaceful valley, where the report of the keeper's 

 gun is never heard, and where the birds are safe from the 

 depredations of man, the ornithologist has free access to pur- 

 sue his favourite study. Towards the middle of May, he 

 can see here the carrion crow, the jay, the magpie, and the 

 jackdaw, filling their mouths with grubs and worms, the 

 weight of which forces the pliant skin under the bill into the 

 shape of a little round ball, just of the same appearance as 

 that which is observed in the rook, with this trifling diiFer- 

 ence, that the lump is feathered in the first, and bare of 

 feathers in the last. 



While I am writing this, there may be seen here a wild 

 duck hatching her eggs in a nest upon a sloping wooded 

 bank ; while a carrion crow is hatching hers in a fir tree ten 

 yards from the spot, and a windhover hawk is performing 

 the same function in a fir tree about six yards on the other 

 side of the duck. Forty yards from where the carrion crow 

 is hatching, may be seen a barn owl sitting on her eggs in 

 the hollow of an oak tree ; and, at twenty yards' distance from 

 the windhover, another white or barn owl has formed her 

 nest in the decayed recesses of a tremendous oak. Though 

 all these families keep the peace, I do not wish it to be under- 

 stood that they are upon visiting terms. In another part, a 

 long-eared owl is rearing her young in the last year's nest of 

 a carrion crow. When the parent bird is asleep, you can see 

 very distinctly the erect feathers on the head : but the moment 

 she gets a sight of you, down go the erect feathers, and lie 

 close to the head; so that an inexperienced observer might 

 take the bird to be a tawny owl. This year, a wild duck has 

 chosen her place of incubation twelve feet from the ground, 

 in an oak tree, near the water; while, in the immediate 

 vicinity, several magpies are hatching in undisturbed repose. 



