204 ENGLISH BIRD LIFE 



whatever. Indeed, as the Jackdaw minoles with 

 the Rooks, in both field and rookery, upon terms 

 of the greatest amity, it may be that the latter 

 tolerate his escapades in consideration of his gay 

 companionship. 



Again, a shaggy pony may be browsing peace- 

 fully on the green beneath the oak-trees in the park. 

 To him descends the Jackdaw, alighting upon his 

 back, and with many strenuous tugs, takes a beakful 

 of hair from the animal's coat. When this has been 

 borne to the tree as a lining for the nest, Jack returns 

 for more. In vain the pony objects, shrugs him- 

 self impatientlv, departs to a more distant part of 

 the pasture. He is steadfastly followed and denuded, 

 until he has parted with sufficient of his covering 

 to supply his persecutor's need. 



Yet, notwithstanding these exhibitions of evilly 

 directed intelligence, the Jackdaw, in some ways, 

 shows a curious lack of the most ordinary common- 

 sense. Most hole-nesting birds are content to lay 

 their eggs in the drv dust of the cavity, or to place 

 within it nothing beyond a soft lining. The Jack- 

 daw piles in the hole, great masses of altogether 

 unnecessary sticks, and in introducing these his 

 incapacity is most marked. Often he will balance 

 himself for a quarter of an hour in the ungainly 

 efforts to get a three-foot stick into a twelve-inch 

 hole, holding the stick carefully in the middle the 

 while, and finally permitting it to drop to the 

 ground on finding the problem insoluble. Or he 

 will labour for many days, dropping sticks through 

 the loophole in the masonry of some old castle, until 

 they form a vast litter in the deejDS below, and then 



