540 CORVUS FRUGILEGUS. 



foot, yet sent forth sounds louder than the crash of waves during 

 a tempest. 



The eastern horizon was obscured by thin vapours, wdiich 

 gradually changed from dull red to orange, as I seated me on 

 a stone, impatiently to wait the appearance of the sun. Sud- 

 denly there issued from a gi-ove to the eastward, and from the 

 valley in which stands the ancient palace of Holyrood, two full 

 volleys of song from a multitude of blackbirds. The music con- 

 tinued until half-past two, when it entirely ceased. In the 

 meantime a drowsy Rook came flying over the hill on silent 

 wings, steering^ its course with a ragged tail which the moult 

 had deprived of several of its feathers, and w^ithout uttering 

 a single croak. Presently came another, a third, and a fourth, 

 all equally dull and silent. The chirping of sparrows was heard 

 on the streets, and the little hedge-bird sent forth its lively 

 ditty from a clump of bushes and weeds, in passing which I 

 had been surprised by the nauseating odour which the hemlock, 

 Conium maculatum, sent forth to the distance of several yards. 

 By and by the Rooks returned, each having its throat distended 

 with food. Reflecting that by this time the young were all 

 fledged and had left their nests, and wondering wdiy the old 

 birds should thus toil at so early an hour, I imagined that these 

 birds continue to provide for their offspring long after the latter 

 have begun to seek food for themselves. The mist grew thicker, 

 and as I had no chance of seeing the sun rise, I left the hill 

 and walked home at three, among crowds of sparrows, as lively 

 as if under the influence of mid-day excitement, quarrelling and 

 bickerino- about the crumbs that were scattered about. 



All day long you may find the Rook in the fields or j^astures, 

 diligently searching for worms and grubs, breaking up and turn- 

 ing over the dry cow-dung with its bill, thrusting it deep into the 

 loose soil, or digging among tufts of grass and clover to extract 

 the larvse that find harbour amidst their roots. At this season, 

 you often observe these birds scattered over the moorland haunts 

 of the curlew^ and plover, and not unfrequently on the sandy 

 or muddy beaches exposed by the tide. Towards evening, col- 

 lecting into large straggling flocks, and uttering their loud and 

 not unpleasant cries, they return to their roosts on the tall trees 



