230 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
to show how mischievous would be a general perse- 
cution ending in the destruction of this bird:—“ In 
one locality in an eastern county a large rookery was 
destroyed under the belief of the farmers that its 
inhabitants were hostile to their interests and 
consumed a large quantity of corn. But mark the 
result. Two years passed away, and the farmers 
congratulated themselves on being rid of their winged 
foes, little thinking that they had other foes in their 
place whose approach was more difficult to detect. 
In the second year many fields of wheat suffered 
from wire-worm, but in the third their ravages had 
become so general throughout the district as to 
occasion serious alarm. Little could be done to — 
suppress their numbers until the Rooks were again 
thought of, and the evil was traced to its true cause. 
The rookery was permitted to be re-established by 
the return of many who had escaped the massacre, 
and who still cherished a partiality for their native 
trees, but who had hitherto been continually driven 
off. Their rapidly increasing numbers soon reduced 
the insect pest, leading the farmers to acknowledge 
the error into which they had fallen, and henceforth 
to look upon the Rook as a friend instead of an 
enemy.” 
The young Rooks appear to be fed mostly with 
insects: the gizzard of one I examined contained 
hard skins of insects and legs and wings of beetles ; 
it also contained a considerable number of stones, 
