142 THE RIVER-SIDE NATURALIST. 



out. So long as the weather remained damp, with occa- 

 sional showers, they were never seen ; but in dry weather, 

 as in frost, they immediately returned. The reason of 

 this is obvious, as in dry, hot weather grubs go down 

 into the cool earth beneath, but invariably return near 

 the surface after rain. 



" It is asserted by some agriculturists that the damage 

 done to young wheat by rooks is not by eating the seed, 

 but by nipping off and devouring the shoot, which, of 

 course, destroys the plant. If such were the case, it is 

 not too much to say that when pressed by hunger in 

 droughts or frost they would regale themselves on the 

 shoots of grain or grass, which they would have no diffi- 

 culty in obtaining. This assertion I am exceedingly loth to 

 believe, as in none of those whose gizzards I have examined 

 have I ever found green blades of any description." 



The intelligence of rooks is shown in many ways. They 

 appear to be capable of distinguishing a gun from a stick 

 when carried in the hand, at once alarmed by the former, 

 but perfectly indifferent to the stick. 



Watching rooks being fed in a garden, a writer ob- 

 serves : " It is in such circumstances that their shrewd- 

 ness and forethought obtrude themselves on our attention. 

 Several cats were in the habit of appearing as soon as the 

 food was thrown out. The rooks, by their noise and 

 attitude of offence, proved themselves able to keep the cats 

 at bay until their appetites were fully satisfied, when, on 

 their leaving, the cats picked up the remaining food. On 

 the rooks discovering this, it was an interesting study 

 to observe them as, after having satisfied themselves, they 

 picked up pieces of the remaining meat arid carried them 

 off to different parts of the garden, where they carefully 

 buried them in the earth. During the afternoon they 

 regularly returned, and with unerring accuracy disinterred 

 the pieces of meat buried in the morning. The reflective 

 instinct exhibited by the rook is proverbial, and developed 

 to a larger extent than in most other birds. Its powers 

 of arithmetical calculation have long attracted the attention 

 of naturalists. It has been found that they can count 



