84 ROOK. 



first shadows of evening ''going home" to the Norman 

 Court Woods with that stately measured flap of the 

 wnngs literally in their thousands. What excitement 

 there is, too, when they reach their destination ! 

 What ''cawing" and quarrelling and fighting for 

 places, as one after another is pushed off his perch, 

 or shifts for himself to get a better position ! By 

 degrees the disturbance grows less loud, the "cawing" 

 grows fainter and more subdued, and at last all is 

 quite still and our black army has settled for the 

 night. But with the first light they are off again, for 

 they are among the earliest birds in their search for 

 food. They will settle in a fresh ploughed field, scour- 

 ing it in search of grubs and worms, or in the pasture 

 lands, pulling up here and there the roots in which, 

 with their keen sight, they have detected a wire-worm 

 or some harmful insect. On these occasions look-out 

 sentinels are generally posted on the trees around to 

 give warning on the approach of an enemy. Occa- 

 sionally they do much harm to the fresh sown corn, 

 or young potato shoots ; but it is universally acknow- 

 ledged that the good they do far outweighs the evil, 

 and so they are protected by the farmer, and looked 

 upon as his best friends. There is no doubt that many 

 people often confuse Rooks with Crows. Rooks are 

 generally seen in large companies, whilst Crows are 

 nearly always seen either alone or in pairs. Another 

 distinction between the Crow and the Rook is a sort 

 of yellow skin at the base of the beak in the latter, 

 which is not found in the Crow, the black plumage in 

 it covering the base. 



Rooks, you wnll probably have noticed, are peculiarly 

 quarrelsome in the breeding season ; if you have not, 

 it will considerably amuse you to watch the impudent 



