28 FEATHERED IlESIDENTS IN THE GROUNDS OF TERRICK HOtTSE, 



where arc tliey to be found? We never see, at least I have never seen, a 

 colony of Books living throughout the spring and summer in a state of '^single 

 blessedness/' which unquestionably would be the case if they did not breed 

 till their second year, unless, indeed, they have institutions in which to retire, 

 similar to those in which certain of our '^'fair ones" are wont to immure 

 themselves; but as I have never heard of the existence of any such institutions 

 amongst these sable inhabitants of the rookery, I can come to no other con- 

 clusion than that the young of the previous year are to be found similarly 

 engaged with those of more mature age. 



The eggs of this species are exceedingly variable in colour, in size, and in 

 shape; light ash, dark green, or blue, with every intermediate shade, is displayed 

 in the ground colour: blotches, spots, and specks, in an endless variety of 

 colours, forms, and sizes, are scattered, now thickly, now sparingly, thereon; 

 black, brown, grey, lavender, purple, and other colours, compose these spots. 

 Now you meet with an egg rather rotund in shape; now one drawn out 

 into the shape of a jargonelle pear; now one tapering at each end: here is 

 one equalling in size that of the Carrion Crow; there, one as -small as 

 that of the Jackdaw. I have two remarkable varieties — the first, which was 

 taken twelve years ago from a nest in this rookery, is less in diameter, but 

 somewhat more elongated than that of the Blackbird, (Merula vulgaris,) — 

 ground colour, greenish ash, mottled all over with yellowish brown and bluish 

 ash; it is probably a sort of abortion, similar to those we sometimes find 

 produced by domestic fowls. The other is of medium size, and there is 

 nothing extraordinary in its shape, but in the distribution of its colours there 

 is something '^very peculiar." A zone of plain dull oil green surrounds the 

 middle, which fades gradually away on either hand to a leaden hue, this 

 lead colour entirely pervades the larger end; there is a total absence of spots 

 or specks, but the whole of the smaller end is concealed beneath a black cap, 

 whose edges are extremely regular and well-defined. This cap, which is of 

 intense blackness, gives it an appearance as strange, though certainly not so 

 appalling, as that of My Lord Chief Justice or Chief Baron, when they ^'put 

 on" that horrible head gear. It is not my intention to write a history of 

 this or any of the birds I shall have occasion to bring before the reader's 

 notice in these papers; to do so, would be to eke them out to a length 

 exceeding all bounds, I must therefore confine myself to the few remarks I 

 have already made upon this species. I might have written a few lines in 

 advocacy of its cause with the agriculturist; this however I am happy to 

 find has already been ably done by J. Mc'Intosh, Esq., a gentleman who 

 writes like one practically acquainted with his subject. — See his "JS'otes on 

 the Rook," in vol. ii. of ''The Naturalist." 



(To be continued.) 

 Brighthampton, Octoher 21th., 1853. 



