Their Eggs and Nests. 125 



west Scotland, the Hebrides and Orkneys, it breeds in 

 large numbers, and rewards for its destruction have 

 been customarily paid to within a recent period ; if, 

 indeed, they have altogether ceased yet. They place 

 their nests among rocks, in the rifts or on ledges. 

 These are built of ling, sticks, roots, stalks of plants, 

 seaweed, and lined with wool and hair. There are 

 usually four or five eggs, not differing very materially 

 in colouring from those of the Common Crow. — Fig, 5, 

 plate V. 



ROOK — {Corvtis frugilegus). 



Crow. — Ever3'0ne must be acquainted with the 

 Rook and its nesting manners and habits. Even the 

 dwellers in great cities have sometimes bad this bird 

 domiciled among them for the breeding season, and 

 many places in London are signalised by the presence 

 of a Rook's nest, or several, in very unlikely situations. 

 In the country some of the most familiar sights and 

 sounds are those afforded by the Rookery, or by the 

 huge assemblages of Rooks about the fields or wing- 

 ing their morning or evening flight in quest of food, 

 or in return to their domiciles. Most of us too have 

 heard of Rook courts of justice, and the sentences 

 awarded against the wrongful spoilers of a neighbour's 

 nest, as well as the battles to resist such an invasion. 

 It is certainly a remarkable instinct which, to so great 

 a degree, forbids birds building in communities to 

 plunder the building materials placed on the adjoin- 

 ing bough or ledge, and no wonder that instinct has 

 provided a remedy for what must be looked upon, 

 when it occurs to any extent, as a somewhat un- 



