198 ROOK'S. 



same in dry springs or summers, when he may be seen walk- 

 ing up and down by the sides of highways, picking up what 

 he can get. In the hot summer of 1825, many of the young 

 broods of the season are reported to have been starved : the 

 mornings were without dew, and consequently few or no earth- 

 worms were to be obtained, and they were found dead under 

 the trees,* having expired on their roostings. It was quite 

 distressing, says an eye-witness, to hear the constant clamour 

 of the young for food. The old birds seemed to suffer without 

 complaint ; but the wants of their famishing offspring were 

 expressed by unceasing cries. Yet, amidst all this distress, it 

 was pleasing to observe the perseverance of the old ones in the 

 endeavour to relieve their perishing families ; for many of them 

 remained out, searching for food long after their accustomed 

 roosting-time ; and then, adds this interesting writer, " the 

 Rook became a plunderer," and dreadful havoc took place in 

 the potato-fields, where whole lines were afterwards seen broken 

 up, in consequence of the visits of the suffering Rooks. 



We have before noticed the instinctive sagacity shown by 

 Rooks, Jays, &c., in avoiding the approach of sportsmen, or 

 other suspicious characters ; and it would appear that they can, 

 with equal discrimination, discover and attach themselves to 

 friends. A clergyman who had a small rookery near his house, 

 assured us, that when he walked near or under the trees, they 

 exhibited no signs of alarm ; but when a stranger approached, 

 they were evidently uneasy, and manifested by their loud caw- 

 ings and movements their wish for his departure. The follow- 

 ing anecdote is a still more convincing proof of this instinctive 

 faculty. 



A farmer rented a farm in the county of Essex some years 

 ago, where he had not resided long before a number of Rooks 

 came and built their nests upon the trees immediately sur- 

 rounding the premises, and multiplied so much in the course 

 of three or four years as to form a considerable rookery, which 

 he much prized. About this time, however, he was induced 

 to take a larger farm, which obliged him to change his residence 

 and forsake his Rooks ; but to his great surprise and pleasure, 

 * Journal, of a, Naturalist. 



