The Crow Tribe. 



code, and have been seen to hold a trial of delinquent 

 members of their body, ending in condemnation to 

 banishment or death.* They are much attached to 

 their old building-places, and will often continue to re- 

 turn to them even when crowded cities grow up around 

 the trees they frequent. They are said to be very 

 sagacious in selecting and avoiding certain trees, and 

 to forsake any trees marked for felling ; but this may 

 be caused by their observation of the decay going on 

 in the upper branches of the condemned trees. 



Rooks are accused of doing much mischief to the 

 farmer, but they certainly render him infinite service, 

 by their wholesale destruction of grubs, worms, and 

 insects, even if they do him harm by pulling up the 

 young blades of corn occasionally. Grey, white, and 

 pied Rooks are sometimes found. 



The favourite pet bird of the Crow tribe is the 

 smallest Corvus, the JACKDAW (Corvtis monedula), a 

 most intelligent, merry, noisy fellow, renowned for his 

 powers of imitation. These birds resemble Rooks in 

 their sociable habits, living together in considerable 

 numbers on most friendly terms. They generally select 

 very high situations for their nests, and build in church 

 towers, belfries, and steeples, but occasionally in hollow 



* The same practice is recorded of the Carrion Crow and the 

 Hooded Crow, which are said to hold "Courts" of justice in 

 their communities. 



