CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 233 



most owners who are fortunate enoug-h to have them 

 on their property ; and rightly so, I think, for no 

 sort of sound, in my humble opinion, has such a 

 lulling, soothing effect, or is so well calculated to 

 induce sleep, as the "Caw," "Caw," "Caw" of a 

 " Rookery" when one is lying wakeful in bed and 

 not particularly anxious to rise with the Lark. 



To maintain a good " Rookery " I am given to 

 understand that the numbers should be kept down, 

 so that shooting young Rooks with a small rifle in 

 the month of May, as soon as they emerge from the 

 nest and settle on the outlying branches — a very 

 common sport in our country — does not in any way 

 interfere with the parent birds nesting on the same 

 spot in the following year. Rather the reverse, the 

 chances of the abandonment of that particular 

 nesting-site being enhanced by allowing the young 

 birds to come to maturity. I have no personal 

 knowledge of this, never having possessed a 

 " Rookery " of my own, so the reader must take the 

 statement for what it is worth. 



According to Howard Saunders, this species has 

 a wide distribution, extending from the Continent of 

 Europe to Siberia and India. 



CASE 49. 



THE HEN HARRIER. 

 Ordei', Accipitres. Family, FalconidcB. 



In my particulars in connection with the Red 

 Throated Divers I related the circumstances under 



Q 



