E22 OUR BIRD ALLIES. 
roosting-places, until at length the nests are completed, 
the eggs laid, and the final migration takes place to 
the breeding-ground. 
In almost every case the nest is placed among the 
topmost branches of a lofty tree—an elm being, per- 
haps, the favourite—and so inaccessible is the chosen 
situation that even the most daring and agile of nest- 
hunting boys is generally baffled in his attempts to 
take the eggs. These are four or five in number, and 
are of a dull, greenish hue, mottled and marbled with 
a deeper tint, and varying to a slight degree both in 
shade and markings. 
Rooks are generally considered to take high rank 
among the many natural weather-prophets with which 
the country resident soon becomes familiar, inti- 
mating, by sundry divings and tumblings in the air, 
the near approach of heavy rain. At such times, 
the birds generally mount to a great height, and then 
descend, or rather allow themselves to fall, with most 
wonderful rapidity, the wings causing a curious rush- 
ing sound as their owner passes through the. air. 
Waterton, however, refuses to allow that such pro- 
ceedings in any way presage an impending change 
of weather. ‘‘It is merely the ordinary descent of 
the birds,” he writes, “to an inviting spot beneath 
them, where, in general, some of their associates are 
already assembled, or where there is food to be pro- 
cured. When we consider the prodigious height of 
the rooks at the time they begin to descend, we 
conclude that they cannot effect their arrival at a 
