BIRDS. 339 



were plainly expressive of affection, and a desire to please." 

 The young who are the objects of this solicitude sufftn* greatly 

 in seasons of drought. Mr. Knapp mentions that, in the hot 

 summer of 1825, many perished from want ;* the mornings 

 were without dew, few or no worms could be obtained, and 

 all the young were found dead under the trees, having expired 

 on their roostinsfs. 



The supply of food involves a question of much importance 

 to the farmer ; namely, whether Rooks do him most good or 

 most evil ? If it were possible to keep a regular account of 

 all tlieir proceedings and their results, which way would the 

 balance he ? Should he regard the Hooks as friends or as 

 enemies ? The question when considered for a moment ex- 

 pands, and presents itself under a new form, and comprises 

 not Rooks alone, but all those ''trooping birds" that live partly 

 upon insects, and pai'tly upon grain and other produce. 



The opinion of those who have most attentively weighed 

 the evidence on both sides is, that the continual benefit which 

 Rooks confer by the destruction of snails, worms, and insects 

 in their several states, far more than compensates for the occa- 

 sional injury they inflict. It is needful at seed-time to guard 

 the newly-sown grain, and the potato "sets" against their 

 depredations ; that being done, offer them no molestation. 

 There are numerous insects that, in the Caterpillar state, eat 

 away the roots of grain or grass crops, while others in different 

 stages make their attacks above ground, and at a later season. 

 The larvae of the Cockchafer,t of the Click Beetles,J and of 

 the Harry-longlegs,§ are all underground feeders ; and some- 

 times when Rooks pull up grass and scatter it about, its roots 

 have been akeady destroyed by the unseen devastators, for 

 which the birds are searching. " A gentleman," says Mr. 

 Jesse, " once showed me a field which had all the appearance of 

 being scorched as if by a burning sun in dry hot weather. The 

 turf peeled from the ground as if it had been cut with a turfing- 

 spade, and we then discovered that the roots of the grass had 

 been eaten away by the larvae of the Cockchafer, which were 

 found in countless numbers at various depths in the soil."|| 

 The Rooks, which evince remarkable quickness in detecting 



* Journal of a Naturalist § Tipulidae. 



+ Melolontha tulgaris. \\ Gleanings of Natural History. 



X Elateridie. 



