OF NATURE. 203 



proper food, flesh, sometimes feed on in- 

 sects I have little doubt, and think I have 

 observed the common buzzard, falco buteo, 

 to settle on the ground and pick up in- 

 sects of some kind or other. MARKWICK. 



ROOKS. 



Rooks are continually fighting and pull- 

 ing each other's nests to pieces : these pro- 

 ceedings are inconsistent with living in 

 such close community. And yet if a pair 

 offer to build on a single tree, the nest is 

 plundered and demolished at once. Some 

 rooks roost on their nest trees. The twigs 

 which the rooks drop in building supply 

 the poor with brushwood to light their 

 fires. Some unhappy pairs are not per- 

 mitted to finish any nest till the rest have 

 completed their building. As soon as they 

 get a few sticks together, a party comes 

 and demolishes the whole. As soon as 

 rooks have finished their nests, and before 



