THE MAY SKY 



cumulus, the sea takes on a sombre, solid look, 

 grand rather than light and beautiful. In spring 

 we rarely find this true sea of the English enervating 

 in beauty for many days together. 



Rookeries of Romance 



On rooks a lady has written denying my state- 

 ment that these birds are highly suspicious and wary 

 of man. She relates how she has induced rooks to 

 come down close to the house to be fed. I doubt 

 not they might even be persuaded to come indoors 

 and take food at table. But I was speaking of the 

 wild rook, not the tamed bird. The rook, my 

 critic says, has a brain-power superior to that of 

 many other birds. Little doubt the crow family has 

 an acuter intelligence than most English birds. This 

 suggests an interesting question do the most intel- 

 ligent wild animals show a closer approach than the 

 others to our " moral law within " ? 



We know the theory of some natural selectionists 

 that the morality of man has been evolved out of the 

 social or gregarious instinct. Now, the rook is one 

 of the most sociable of animals. If this view of the 

 origin of morality were correct, might we not expect 

 rooks to show toward each other qualities of mercy, 

 kindness, pity, and help more than wild animals 

 of solitary habit ? But I doubt much whether 

 rook is juster or kinder to rook than thrush to 

 thrush. True, the real life of the rook is dark to 



in 



