ROOK. 547 



without confusion, ply their less laborious task. Some are seen 

 flying abroad, others returning and bearing from the neigh- 

 bourhood t\\ags of various trees, some of which they have broken 

 from the branches, while others have been picked up from 

 the ground. If you visit the rookery by day at this period, 

 you find probably half the birds at home busily occupied, and 

 so long as you remain at a distance not much alarmed, al- 

 though now and then one calls out with a strong voice to his 

 fellows to beware. If you advance nearer, those on the neigh- 

 bouring trees fly off, making a loud and discordant noise, but 

 alight at some distance. This commotion alarms the whole 

 body, and should you go up to the centre of the place, they all 

 fly away, and either keep sailing and circling about, uttering 

 fierce vociferations, or betake themselves to the surrounding 

 trees, whence they spring whenever they judge your proximity 

 too close. If you shoot one of them, which you may easily do, 

 the noise is greatly increased, and the greater part make off to 

 a secure distance. When you have retired, you see them has- 

 tening back in groups to continue their labours, and presently 

 all the disturbance which you have caused is forgotten. Thus 

 even amid the anxiety and bustle of this busy season, the Rooks 

 retain their usual vigilance, and are as little disposed as ever 

 to favour the advances of man, although the desire of forwarding 

 their work induces them to allow a much nearer approach 

 than at other times. 



At length, by the end of a week or ten days, the bulky edi- 

 fices are completed ; and when the eggs are deposited, the stir 

 abates, although still a considerable bustle is kept up by the 

 males, who carefully feed their mates while sitting. The nest 

 has generally a diameter of two feet, or somewhat more, and is 

 composed of sticks and twigs, some dry, others fresh, of ash, 

 plane-tree, elm, fir, pear, apple, and other trees, frequently 

 hawthorn cuttings ; and is lined with fibrous roots and long 

 straws rather neatly arranged, together with wool and other 

 soft substances, varying according to circumstances. The eggs 

 are four or five in number, of a rather elongated subelliptical 

 form, having the larger end narrower than that of the eggs of 

 the preceding species, the length varying from an inch and 



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