AUTUMNAL NESTING OP THIS HOOK. 211 



Williams, Esq., of Stinsford House, near Dorchester, had in his poultry yard 

 a Duck sitting on some ten or a dozen eggs, and by accident a Cochin- 

 China hen deposited an egg in the nest amongst the other eggs, during the 

 temporary absence of the Duck for food; and the little chick was hatched 

 on the same day as the young Ducklings. Singular to say, she took to the 

 water immediately in a similar manner in all respects to the Ducks, and 

 may now be seen daily disporting herself in it, as if it were her native 

 element. She accompanies her brother and sister Ducks to the water in the 

 morning, and in the evening picks up worms, etc., in the Park like them, 

 and returns to the yard with them. She will not consort with the chickens, 

 although there are several broods also in the same yard. She thrives well, 

 and is a very prettily-marked little hen. 



Dorcheder, July dth., 1853. 



AUTUMNAL NESTING OP THE ROOK. 

 (CORVUS FRUOILEGUS.) 



BY STEPHEN STONE, ESQ. 



In a recent number of "The Naturalist," vol. iii. page Gl, the Rev. W. 

 Waldo Cooper expresses himself surprised at finding the nesting of a Rook 

 with eggs in the month of October; and moreover states that he never heard 

 of Rooks 'sitting' at that season. It may be interesting to that gentleman, 

 and others of your readers, to find, that although it is by no means a com- 

 mon occurrence, yet that it does occur, and more frequently perhaps, than 

 may be generally known. 



In former times, when superstitious notions prevailed to a much greater 

 extent than they do now, and when unusual occurrences, of what sort or 

 kind soever they might be, were wont to bring dread and dismay to the 

 minds of those 'luckless wights' whose lot it might be to witness them, 

 from a feeling that some terrible calamity was suddenly about to befal them, 

 this unseasonable nesting of the Rook was looked upon as boding some dire 

 disaster to those whose immediate neighbourhood it might chance to select for 

 that purpose. 



The first instance of the kind which came under my observation, occurred at 

 a Rookery near the seat of the Marquis of Chandos, at that time the residence 

 of his father, the present Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, at Wotton, 

 Bucks. Events at all remarkable which occur very early in life, are wont 

 to impress themselves upon the memory far more indelibly than those which 

 occur in after years; thus, being at the time but a mere child, I have a much 

 more distinct recollection of every circumstance connected with the event I 

 am about to narrate, than of many things quite as remarkable which have 

 happened since. 



There had been a terrific snow-storm throughout the night of the 31st. of 



