470 THE JACKDAW. 



It is well named " thieving kae. " At 4 a.m., August 23rd, 

 1878, I watched several alight on a jargonelle tree in my little 

 garden. Selecting the ripest, they dabbed their beak into the 

 fruit, adroitly broke it off, and flew off with it. As the ripest 

 disappeared, I wanted to know who did it. Digging their beak 

 into a ripe pear is different from the alleged digging into an egg. 

 On Jnne 27th, 1882, I saw a sparrow fly up to the crow steps 

 with a large bit of bread opposite to where I sat writing. It 

 was picking off small pieces to swallow, when a daw swooped 

 down to steal it. Quick as lightning the sparrow flew with it 

 to an apple tree, but it dropped to the ground ; the daw bore 

 it off in triumph. But instead of its food I have seen it steal 

 the life of the sparrow. On July 18th, same year, I heard a 

 loud " churr" when standing at the Town Kirk railings. On 

 looking up to the trees I saw a jackdaw with a sparrow held 

 down by one foot, and dabbing at its head with its beak until 

 the " churr" was hushed by death. I shouted — the daw flew 

 off like a rocket with the sparrow in its claws, as I have seen a 

 sparrow-hawk do with one in its talons. So, I moralised, 

 thieves and murderers are found where least expected — even 

 within the precincts of a kirk ! 



It is called "kae" from its cry of " kae-a." Wishing to 

 know from personal observation if it nested in rabbits' holes — 

 doubted by some authors — I went to Tentsmuir on May 17th, 

 1862, to see for myself. I met a boy who lived with his 

 parents in a small heather-roofed hut (now gone) near the old 

 fir park. He told me he got six jackdaws' nests with eggs and 

 young a fortnight before. He took me to the place. I saw a 

 daw come out of a rabbit's hole. On digging in three feet I 

 found the nest, with five young ones just beginning to feather. 

 So this was proof positive of the fact and time they breed. The 

 boy told me the nests were in about two or three feet. He got 

 some of the eggs with his hands, the others with a crooked 

 stick — the eggs from four to seven, usually five or six ; paler 

 than the rook's, bluish-green, spotted with dark-brown. The 

 nests I examined in these holes were a layer of heather stalks 

 and twigs, amply lined with fur, hair, and wool — proofs of a 

 warren and sheep walk ; the eggs, If by 1— . On the 31st I 

 again went over to the moor. I met a gamekeeper and boy 

 with a spade and bag. The boy showed me two daw's eggs, 

 fresh, just taken from the nest. They got a nest with ripe 

 young ones also in a burrow. The boy told me that he, along 

 with other boys, got 63 daws' eggs in rabbits' holes that year. 



