AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 221 



97. ROOK. 



Corvus frugilegus. 



This is another of our British birds which is so 

 abundant in almost all parts of our Islands, and so 

 well known to our people, and about which so much 

 has been written, that it seems almost presumptuous 

 to suppose that we can say or write anything new ; 

 but to the inquiring ornithologist there are still 

 several matters in the habits and domestic economy 

 of the Rook upon which information and explanation 

 would be most acceptable. We imagine that there 

 can .be few districts in which this species is more 

 common than in ours, or in which greater facility of 

 observation of the manners and customs of this 

 " ancient family " can be at all seasons afforded by 

 nature to a student of bird-life. Here at Lilford, at 

 all events, we shall not be going beyond the mark in 

 stating the number of Rooks' nests within a radius 

 of three miles from the house at from fifteen hundred 

 to two thousand, and have but little doubt that the 

 actual number may be not far from double the last- 

 named figure *. If the weather is mild, our Rooks 

 crowd into their rookeries early in February, and set 

 about marrying and giving in marriage, the restora- 

 tion of nurseries, and distribution of (family) seats, 

 but several weeks generally elapse in incessant talk 

 and argument, love-making, and perhaps arrange- 

 ments of marriage-settlements, before the building- 

 operations are commenced. We had written thus 



* A very great diminution in the number of Rooks breeding in 

 this immediate locality is very evident since the above passage was 

 \vritten. 



