214 RURAL BIRD LIFE. 



with ease. To begin with their varied habits, we will 

 observe them in the breeding season. The Rook un- 

 doubtedly pairs for life, and uses the same nest year 

 after year, renewing it in the old site if blown out by 

 the wintry blasts, and repairing it by adding fresh lining, 

 or, if considerably damaged, sometimes building a new 

 nest on the ruins of the old one. The Rook is one of 

 the first birds to set about nesting duties, commencing 

 operations long before the vernal equinox, and to visit a 

 rookery in the building time is a real pleasure to lovers 

 of the feathered tribes. There we see them perched on 

 the topmost branches of the trees, seated in their nests, 

 or winging their way through the trackless air. What 

 an animated scene ! Rooks cawing in all directions ; 

 Rooks busily engaged on their nests, moulding and 

 fashioning them for their purpose ; Rooks carrying sticks, 

 turf, and other materials ; Rooks in yonder fallow, obtain- 

 ing mud to cement the sticks ; and Rooks feeding on 

 the neighbouring grass fields. In fact. Rooks everywhere, 

 and all busily employed, their pleasing caws deafening 

 the air around. Now one encroaches on the other's 

 property, and then those combats occur which many 

 persons attribute to the possession of the old nests — 

 combats often of such a severe nature as to leave one of 

 the birds bleeding and dying at the foot of the tree, and 

 throwing the entire community into a fever of excitement 

 and disorder. When the Rooks break off twigs from 

 the nesting trees they invariably fly clear of the tree and 

 gain their nest by an uninterrupted course, probably 

 because taking the twig through the tangled branches 

 would prove extremely difficult and troublesome. We 

 also notice that when the nest is being built one of the 

 birds remains at home while the other seeks materials ; 

 but once the nest is completed this is never done, and it 



