146 



BIRDS, BEASTS, AND FISHES 



there is a stampede ; bass sounds do not seem to frighten 

 him. Indeed, he does not seem able to hear a bass noise 

 like a shrill treble. If you listen to them, you will hear the 

 cock-bird calling " Ah ! ah ! " — a signal of arrival at the city 

 gates ; then the hen calls " Ah ! ah ! " as she takes the sup- 

 plies and flies towards the young; when they begin a frog- 

 like noise, or crying like babies at the breast, as she feeds 

 them. On the other hand, the danger signal is either a 

 peculiar gull-like noise, " Kc'o, ki'o," or a " Quah, quak." 



His life is hedged round with precautions, the precautions 

 of a mediaeval city; but once he gets ranging over the 

 marshes, his true character shows itself; for a lapwing, 

 whose eggs he loves, a redleg, a kesti'el, a sparrow-hawk 

 can all easily chase him away. He flies and never shows 

 fight. His cunning, too, has taught him how far a gun will 

 carry, and if he cares to rob your garden of walnuts (which 

 he dearly loves) it is at daybreak in the autumn ; if it be 

 your potato patch, he turns up when there is no watchman 

 present, and he seems to know when the allotment gunner 

 is present to protect the crops. He is artful, and he knows 

 it, but withal he is a burgher even to his mourning when 

 a mate is shot ; for he will then cry distressfully, and shriek 

 and howl over his dead mate, lamenting with vulgar noise 

 the civilised thief who has gone down. When the eagle 

 was made king of birds, the rook was elected Lord Mayor. 



A ROOKERY IN SPRING. 



