126 



Pictures of Bird Life 



Nightjar (C'apriiiiiils^iis cttropaiis) and Young One. 



him, but he must have Partridges' eggs, and for sucli a 

 heinous crime there is no forgiveness. 



Xow, tlie worst of it all is that it is too true ; and a pity 

 it is, for he is a great ornament to the fields. He is the 

 largest common bird we have left, and his presence in the 

 rookery of ancient elms gives an added dignity to many 

 an ancestral estate. His familiar figure would be missed, 

 and his absence would be mourned as a personal loss by 

 many, if sentence of death or banishment were passed upon 

 him. That Rooks are not averse to animal food e\Q\\ is 

 shown by an extraordinary account of the systematic hunting 

 of Field-voles by Rooks in Thuringia AVald. It will be 

 found in the October number of the Zoologist for 1892. 



From a letter in the Zoologist of January, 1900, by 

 A\\ AVilson. it would seem that some injustice has been done 



