46 ODD HOURS WITH NATURE 



up to the lining stage, and who are, therefore, 

 in no need of sticks, are not one whit less active 

 in this sort of sport than the rest. In my rookery 

 the practical jokers were numerous and deter- 

 mined, and their favourite joke was not to steal 

 a stick, but to pull it out, drop it to the ground, 

 and next moment affect to be absorbed in the 

 labours of plumage preening. Then they are all 

 prodigious talkers, and while the renovation went 

 on they conversed without ceasing all the time, 

 criticizing one another's work and engaging in 

 sentimental interludes. Twice the communal sense 

 asserted itself. In one case a couple, presumably 

 young, commenced to build a new nest at a con- 

 siderably higher altitude than the general level 

 of the rookery. They worked in peace for a day, 

 but on the second day an Act of Parliament was 

 invoked against the aspirants, and their nest was 

 pulled to bits. If a pair of rooks care to build 

 at a lower level than prevails they are permitted 

 to go on ; the discomfort will be theirs. But if 

 they try to get unduly up in the world, it is quite 

 a different affair. Then the public interest comes 

 in. The other pair which outraged the law did 

 it by attempting to build in the top of an ash a 

 hundred yards away from the group of elms 

 favoured by the community. They were punished 

 for their aloofness by having their work wrecked 

 after they had laboured on it for three days. As 

 all these leisurely repairing operations are carried 

 out in the mornings, and the greater part of each 

 day is spent in the fields, two or three weeks 

 pass before the rookery is actually a going con- 



