The Birds of Pembrokeshire. 33 
almost the only birds that keep sleek and fat, as they then feast 
upon the starving smaller birds. Mr. Dix writes of the Mag- 
pie: “Very common, but so readily destroyed that I fear it will 
soon be a rarity; still, as there are large tracts of country 
without a gamekeeper, it has a chance for the present. It is a 
very destructive bird, and in many places is quite a pest. I 
have heard of a place, in the extreme south of the principality, 
where they used to congregate at night like Rooks: it took all 
the keeper’s time to watch them till some poison was laid, and 
the following morning he picked up two or three barrows full of 
the dead birds. The country people are very superstitious, 
finding omens in numberless occurrences, and this bird is most 
carefully watched, as upon the number seen together, the 
direction of their flight, &c., depends a great deal of good or 
bad luck.” 
JACKDAW, Corvus monedula—A common resident. Very abun- 
dant on the cliffs, about all old buildings, such as the ruins of the 
Bishop’s Palace at St. David’s, Pembroke Castle, &c., about 
isolated dwellings in the wilder part of the county, where the 
birds fill up all the chimneys with their nests, and in doing this 
were a great plague to us at Stone Hall, and nesting also in 
hollow trees. To be seen with Rooks robbing the grain in the 
autumn from the stooks in the corn-fields. It is the custom in 
Pembrokeshire for the stooks to be left out a month or six weeks 
before “ leading in,” and the birds have thus an Opportunity to 
take their full tithe. Nor do they neglect to attack the ricks in 
the farm-yard, and we were often compelled to drive them away 
by shooting at them. In spite of all their mischief the Jackdaws 
are great favourites of ours, and we always enjoyed seeing them 
and watching their lively gestures on the coast, where their noisy 
chatter would be greatly missed. At St. David’s gardening 
operations, especially in the Deanery garden, are carried on 
under great difficulties, owing to the impudent thefts of the 
Jackdaws that swarm there at all times of the year; and little 
can be had in the way of fruit or vegetables without careful pro- 
5 
