72 THE ROOK 
In very dry summer weather, Rooks are put to great shifts in 
obtaining food. Grubs and worms descend to a great depth to get 
beyond the influence of the drought, and the soil is too parched 
and hard for digging ; they then retire to the sea-shore, to marshes, 
fresh-water and salt, to cabbage and potato gardens, and in the last- 
named localities they are again disposed to become marauders. 
To fruit gardens they are rarely permitted to resort, or they would 
commit great ravages. Asthe season advances, ripe walnuts are a 
very powerful attraction, and when they have discovered a tree well 
supplied with fruit, a race ensues between them and the proprietor 
as to which shall appropriate the greater share, so slily do they 
watch for opportunities, and so quick are they in gathering them 
and carrying them off in their beaks. In long winter frosts, or 
when the ground is covered with snow, they are again reduced to 
straits. Some resort to the sea-shore and feed on garbage of all 
kinds, some to turnip-fields where they dig holes in the bulbs. 
They have also been observed to chase and kill small birds, which, 
as near starvation as themselves, have been unable to fly beyond 
their reach, and I have even seen a Rook catch a small fish. 
I must not conclude this imperfect sketch without noticing a 
peculiar habit of Rooks, which is said to portend rain. A flock 
will suddenly rise into the air almost perpendicularly, with great 
cawing and curious antics, until they have reached a great elevation, 
and then, having attained their object, whatever that may be, 
drop with their wings almost folded till within a short distance of 
the ground, when they recover their propriety, and alight either 
on trees or on the ground with their customary grave demeanour. 
Occasionally in autumn, as White of Selborne remarks, 
Sooth’d by the genial warmth, the cawing Rook 
Anticipates the spring, selects her mate, 
Haunts her tall nests, and with sedulous care 
Repairs her wicker eyrie, tempest torn. 
Similar instances of this unseasonable pairing are recorded by 
modern ornithologists. 
Efforts are sometimes made, and not always unsuccessfully, to 
induce Rooks to establish a colony in a new locality. One plan 
is to place some eggs taken from a Rook’s nest in that of some large 
bird which has happened to build in the desired spot, that of a 
Crow for instance, a Magpie, Jackdaw, Jay, or perhaps a Mistle 
Thrush. If the young are reared, it is probable that they will return 
to breed in the same place in the following year. Another plan 
which has been tried with success is to place several bundles of 
sticks, arranged in the form of nests, among the highest branches 
of the trees which it is desired to colonize. Stray Rooks in quest 
of a settlement, mistaking these for ruins of old nests, accept the 
invitation and establish themselves if the locality suits taem in 
other respects. 
