AND NEIGHBOURHOOD. 225 



time for retiring to roost : in one of these spots, a 

 portion of a meadow close to this house, we have 

 seen some ten acres of ground so thickly occupied 

 by Rooks that scarcely a sign of the grass upon 

 which they were assembled was discernible from a 

 few hundred yards' distance, whilst great numbers 

 were collected in the adjoining trees, and many 

 plunging headlong from great heights in the air and 

 darting and twisting in all directions ; those upon 

 the ground were for the most part comparatively 

 silent, but the occupants of the " gallery," if I may 

 so call the trees, were, as is usual in similar assem- 

 blages, very vociferous. We have seen many such 

 meetings, but never such a densely packed one as 

 that observed one afternoon in early October some 

 years ago in the meadow above mentioned, and 

 followed, as is generally the case, by a heavy gale of 

 wind. Here is another of the mysterious habits of 

 the Rook, which has, no doubt, been observed by 

 many, but which, to our knowledge, has never been 

 explained. Rooks travel long distances in search of 

 food; and I am assured that those which frequent 

 the demesne of Powerscourt, at a short distance from 

 Dublin, are in the constant habit of crossing to the 

 Welsh coast in the morning and returning at evening. 

 In most parts of Europe which border on the Medi- 

 terranean the Rook is a winter visitant and a very 

 local one. In certain parts of Andalucia vast flocks 

 appear in December, whilst in others it appears to be 

 entirely unknown. From all we can learn, we are 

 inclined to consider the British Islands the principal 

 cradle of the European Rook, though it is recorded 

 by Yarrell (4th edition, pp. 300, 301) as breeding in 

 various parts of Northern and Central Europe, as also 



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