I20 The Rook. [Sess. 



ll.—THE ROOK. 



Br Mr TOM SPEEDY. 



(Read Jan. 25, ISSS.) 



In writing an essay on birds, I propose to introduce to you 

 our familiar friend, the rook. No bird, I imagine, will be 

 more welcome, as with it every person is more or less familiar. 

 Even those living in towns have frequent facilities afforded 

 them for observing the habits of this bird, especially at nest- 

 ing-time, whicli is denied to many in the country. Eooks 

 often take possession of a clump of trees in large centres of 

 population, where, as a rule, they rear their young more safely 

 than in rural districts, municipal law forbidding the use of fire- 

 arms or the scaling of trees within its boundaries. Those who 

 live in houses of high elevation, with windows overlooking 

 rookeries in towns, as in the Meadows or Newington in our own 

 city, must be interested in observing the habits of those birds. 

 What an absence of sloth ! and what a lesson of industry may 

 there be learned ! How scientific and business-like they ap- 

 pear, as if their whole energies were centred in their work. 

 No trades-unionism, no strikes, no half-holidays on Saturday 

 afternoons for them. From the time they begin to carry the 

 first stick to the nest, till the young birds can take care of 

 themselves, it is an endless scene of bustle and anxiety from 

 early dawn till darkness has set in. It does seem strange 

 that a pair of young rooks — or indeed any kind of birds — can 

 the following spring commence a structure, and, without ex- 

 perience, but with unerring instinct, build a nest identical with 

 the one in which they themselves were reared. As some of 

 the old nests, with a little trimming and repair, are utilised, I 

 may presume, by old birds, tlie difficulty of building devolves 

 upon young ones. Their first and not the least important duty 

 is to select a tree with sufficient forks to hold the nest to- 

 gether, and when a fit one is found, in a few days they com- 

 mence the structure. It sometimes happens that they fly to 

 a considerable distance for suitable sticks to make the frame 

 which supports the inner parts of the nest. The branch of an 

 elm or thorn is frequently chosen, and to watch them breaking 



