120 NOTES OX THE ROOK. 



Rooks do migrate from the Rookeries which are already thickly inhabited, 

 and settle in new localities, is evident by the numerous small ones that are 

 to be met with throughout the various counties of England, Scotland, and 

 Ireland, and various other countries; but this migration is not to the amount 

 that some naturalists imagine. In the following Rookeries, namely, Dalkeith 

 Park, near Edinburgh, Monzie and Abercarney, Perthshire, Milton Abbey, 

 Charborough, Whatcombe, and Canford, in Dorsetshire, we have observed an 

 annual increase, to a certain extent, of young pairs of the same Rookery, 

 without any molestation on the part of the older inhabitants to them; but 

 should Rooks from a distant Rookery attempt to rear an habitation in an 

 old established one, they are quickly dislodged, and driven to seek fresh 

 quarters. We must also take into consideration the amount of both young 

 and old that are slaughtered by Rooh-sliooters, and various other causes both 

 natural and accidental; these large gaps in the colonies have to be made 

 up, and such is done by old and young pairing together; we have frequently 

 seen pairs in a rookery, consisting of an old male and a young female, also 

 an old female with a young male; we have also watched these birds picking 

 up sticks and moss from the ground, and carrying them to their nests. This is 

 sufficient in some measure to account fo? what becomes of a certain amount of 

 the young. And again, young pairs of the same rookery pair and build their 

 nests in adjoining trees to those which gave them birth; and as we have before 

 said, without any molestation on the part of their parents and their neighbours, 

 except when they have been caught in the act of stealing the materials from 

 their neighbours' nests, which the young birds are apt to do, the whole colony 

 is in an uproar, and the unfortunate pair are driven to seek fresh quarters: 

 this we have on many occasions observed. Others, and that but to a small 

 amount, betake themselves in search of a new locality. 



We feel perfectly satisfied that these remarks will be received by many 

 readers, who have not paid close attention to the subject, with pooh, pooh, 

 nonsense, but we candidly a.ssert that they are observations made for years 

 in England, Scotland, and Ireland; and be it remembered '^Facts are stubborn 

 things." There is one fact in the character of the Rook that in conclusion 

 we must not omit, and which is peculiar to them, that is, the distress which 

 is exhibited whenever one of their companions has been wounded or killed 

 while feeding in a field or in flying over it, instead of being frightened by 

 the report of a gun, and leaving their dead or wounded companion to his 

 f ite, they shew the greatest sympathy for him, flying over him in circles in 

 the air, and uttering cries of great distress, shewing that they wish to render 

 him assistance; some of the old birds will even make a dart through the 

 air close to him, as it were to find out the reason that he does not follow 

 them. If perchance he is only wounded, and can flutter a little way along 

 the ground, his companions appear to animate him to make fresh exertions 

 by flying a little in advance, and uttering cries of encouragement. Even when 

 a dead bird is hung up in a field to frighten them away, they will collect in 



