NOTES ON THE ROOK. 245 



attended this flock of Rooks, sharing their "bed and board," not one of 

 them was found to have perished. Did a light heart carry our friend Jack 

 through ? Light-heartedness is known to go a great way, as it also did in 

 Shakspere's time ; thus one of his characters, Antolycus by name, in the 

 Winter's Tale, Act 4, Scene 2 ; sings, or did sing, 



" A merry heart goes all the day, 

 Your sad tires in a inile-a." 



And a right merry heart has Jack, if his incessant chatter may be deemed 

 sufficient evidence. As the Barrister before the Judge, so the Jackdaw in 

 presence of the staid and sober Rooks, although he may fail to rivet tlie 

 attention, will nevertheless be sure to succeed in making himself heard. And 

 to carry the parallel a step further : if the loquacity in the case of bird or 

 Barrister does not altogether interest or amase the hearer, it at any rate 

 serves greatly to amuse the utterer, if we may be allowed to judge by the 

 self-complacency which usually accompanies its deliveiy. 



In concluding these Notes, I would offer a remark or two upon those 

 annual exhibitions which take place at most rookeries — the massacre of the 

 young birds. There are among us time-honoured customs which we should 

 regret to see discontinued ; but assuredly this is not of the number, for of 

 this it may truly be remarked — 



" It is a custom 

 More honoured in the breach than the observance." 



Rook-pie may, for aught I know, be all very Avell — veiy savouiy, and very 

 delicate eating ; and equally savouiy, for anything I know, may be a steak 

 from off" a nice fat specimen of that docile and beautiful creature, the Equus 

 cahallus of authors. I am not sorry that I cannot speak with certainty or 

 from experience upon this point. One great objection, perhaps not the only 

 one, to the flesh of this creature being cut up into steaks, made into pasties, 

 or converted into sausage-meat, is, that the services of the animal render it 

 far too valuable to be slaughtered for the pui'pose ; though, as regards the 

 latter-named article, there are, it must be acknowledged, persons of a sus- 

 picious turn of mind, who are unreasonable enough to harbour the absurd 

 notion, or people who are mischievous enough to hint at the possibility that, 

 when casualties occur, some little traffic in this 'Equine " matiere" maj'^ be 

 carried on between those respectable gentlemen and accomplished " artistes '' 

 professionally termed Knackers, and the equally respectable and not less 

 accomplished vendors of sausage-meat. I have but one remark to make 

 upon this delicate subject — a subject I should not have ventured to intro- 

 duce, but that, by its introduction, an opportunity is afforded me of making 

 the remark — which is, that if the services of the Rook were properly under- 

 stood and appreciated, the veiy same objection to its being made into pie 

 would be found to exist, as exists in the case of the four-footed animal 



