THE ROOKERY 45 



of young birds which have just left the nest, and 

 made petted noises in her throat. Sparrows do 

 this, but not what followed ; for, having done 

 all that could be done by deportment to manifest 

 the state of his beating heart, Mr. Rook descended 

 to the field, caught a wireworm, and, returning 

 with it, fed the lady, who received the morsel, 

 again in the manner of the young. Many male 

 birds feed their mates after incubation has begun, 

 but the rook alone introduces the function among 

 the offices of courtship. Thus he may be s^id to 

 have reached that stage of emotional evolution 

 which the comic papers affect to believe has been 

 attained only by cooks who lavish on policemen 

 at once the treasures of the heart and of the 

 pantry. 



It is no doubt because he wears a black coat 

 that the rook is reputed to take sober views of 

 life. In truth there is no more frolicsome creature 

 living, and the business of getting a rookery 

 a-going is enlivened with fun and joke through- 

 out. The repairing of old nests and the building 

 of new ones goes on very slowly, and in explanation 

 of this it has been said that the rooks spend more 

 time in stealing sticks from one another than in 

 getting sticks for themselves. It would be idle 

 to deny that they do steal from one another, but 

 when they do so it is probable that they do it to 

 gratify their sense of humour rather than in the 

 spirit of larceny. Often they do no more than 

 pull out the carefully adjusted twigs and leave 

 them on the top of the nest ; and those members 

 of the community whose own nests are completed 



