MID-APRIL 8s 
pie, as this takes away their bitter taste 
considerably. Sportsmen shoot the young 
birds with a rifle as they sit outside their 
nests ; it would obviously be very unsports- 
manlike to shoot them with a charge of shot, 
when there would be but little chance of 
missing them ! 
The jackdaw’s nest is, like the starling’s 
(see Part I, p. 41), a motley mixture of sticks 
and soft pieces of material and feathers, piled 
up together in large quantities, sometimes 
to the height of several feet. It is generally 
difficult of access. Jackdaws rear a single 
brood each season. Rooks and jackdaws are 
clean : feeders ; 1.e. they do not eat carrion, 
but will consume fresh meat. Vegetable 
products, insects, worms, grubs, or soft shell- 
fish are their food. They may sometimes 
be seen (like starlings) on the backs of sheep, 
which tolerate their presence there because 
they free them from parasites. Rooks like 
1 The flesh of starlings also is bitter unless the heads 
are cut off and the birds allowed to bleed freely, and the 
skins removed. 
