Northern Observations of Inland Birds 263 



As a rule, however, it takes a great deal to induce jack- 

 daws to forsake an ancestral haunt, and I have myself seen 

 hundreds of them busily at work in cliffs where a peregrine 

 had its eyrie. Even quarrying activities do not appear 

 unduly to disturb them, as I have known a clan to flourish 

 when all around them blasting with dynamite was in 

 regular operation. 



The birds often occupy rabbit burrows along sea 

 cliffs tenanted also by rock doves and puffins. 



Jackdaws will eat anything that rooks will eat, but they 

 are more partial to carrion. One day I noticed a great 

 deal of excitement among a flock of these birds and 

 several gulls feeding at the sea edge on the Fife coast, 

 and on my going up to investigate the gulls flew off, 

 though the jackdaws, seeing that I had no gun, remained 

 till I was within a few yards. It then transpired that 

 they were feeding on a decapitated seal thrown up by 

 the tide, though circumstances did not invite too close 

 an enquiry. 



Though the jackdaw does not believe in working when 

 he can profit by the labours of others, he is nevertheless 

 an active and industrious bird, astir as early as anyone 

 before sunrise, and among the last to roost. In the 

 early hours they disperse themselves over the fields, 

 feeding like rooks, and since they depend largely on 

 worms and insects, they doubtless do much to counter- 

 balance their destructiveness during the spring of the 

 year. Often small packs are to be seen returning home 

 so late that they are clearly a little afraid of being caught 

 without lights, and their flight then takes the form of 

 a slovenly scramble, suggestive of the adage " more 

 haste less speed." 



A jackdaw makes an amusing pet to have about the 

 property, though since the storage habit is so highly 

 developed in these birds. Jack needs to be closely watched 



