FEATIIEBED RESIDENTS IN THE GROUNDS OF TERRICK HOUSE. 27 



decide on a charge of hooting, brought against any individual of this species, 

 I should be unanimous for a verdict of acquittal, I have lived many years 

 in a district free from wood, where the Barn Owl is the only kind of Owl 

 to be met with; now although this species is common and plentiful enough, 

 the hooting of an Owl is never by any chance to be heard in this district; 

 while in a well-wooded country, in which I have also resided, where the 

 Tawny Owl abounds, the hooting of the Owl is almost as familiar a sound 

 as the cooing of the Ring Dove, or the cawing of the Rook. This convinces 

 me that it is at the door of the Tawny Owl the charge of hooting is prin- 

 cipally to be laid, and that this principal "count in the indictment" must 

 fall to the ground if preferred against the Barn Owl. A few minor "counts" 

 might perhaps be sustained, such as screaming or screeching in a way calculated 

 ^^to create a breach" in "the peace"ful slumbers, or even to "disturb the 

 peace" of mind of certain of Her Majesty's loyal, but withal timid and 

 superstitious subjects, and some others. 



The Rook, {Coi-vus frugilegus,) has "an establishment" in some pine, oak, 

 and beech trees at the rear of the house. These birds, as we naturally 

 expect "members of temperance societies" to be, and there is no mistake as 

 to their being evidently of this class, are of strictly regular habits; they have 

 no relish for "keeping late hours," but a decided aversion thereto. "Early 

 to bed, and early to rise" is one of their maxims, and though fond of 

 society, as good fellows are, they, like rational beings, eschew '^'^the bottle." 

 The "crystal spring," the "limpid stream," or even the "stagnant pool," or 

 wayside puddle supplies them with the only kind of beverage they indulge 

 in, and this is the only kind of beverage they, or any other description of 

 animals, really require; and happy would it be could none other be procured; 

 happier still would it have been, had none other ever been invented or 

 thought of. 



There are some who maintain that the Rook does not breed until it is 

 two years old: I know not what arguments are used in support of this 

 opinion, but my reasons - for believing that it does so at one year old are 

 these: — It is well known that in each large district, embracing an area of 

 many miles, there is a common roosting-place, to which all the Rooks in that 

 district nightly resort the greater part of the year; that is, except during 

 the breeding-season. As soon as the breeding-season has fairly set in, these 

 roosting-places become quite deserted; the vast masses of birds, which resorted 

 there, having broken up into separate communities, and become tenants, ^pro 

 tempore,' of the various breeding-places — ^'rookeries" — which are scattered here 

 and there over each district. Let us take the trouble of ascertaining the 

 number of tenanted nests in any "rookery," and the number of birds that 

 rookery contains, and we shall find there are just as many tenanted nests as 

 pairs of birds; thus proving that all here are engaged in the task of rearing 

 their young, or are preparing to do so. If, therefore, the young of the 

 previous year are not to be found here, or at the common roosting-place. 



