256 ROOKS. 



he approaches its haunts; but the broods being 

 fledged, the families unite, form large flocks, and 

 retire to open meadows, unenclosed commons and 

 downs, feeding on slugs and worms, and become 

 wild and vigilant creatures. It is well known that 

 the glareous liquor, or white of the egg of this 

 bird, upon being boiled, becomes gelatinous and 

 translucent, not a thick opake substance like that 

 of the hen ; a circumstance that is likewise observ- 

 able in the eggs of the rook, and of many of our 

 small birds. The latter are not sufferers by it ; 

 but the eggs of the poor rook, though bearing little 

 resemblance to those of this plover, are in some 

 places not uncommonly taken and sold conjointly 

 with them in the London market ; and probably 

 the habitual eater of them only can distinguish a 

 sensible difference. 



April 28, 1829 A violent windy day, beating 

 down and bruizing all young vegetation^ and scatter- 

 ing the petals of our flowers round the garden ; but 

 in my rookery the consequences are disastrous in- 

 deed, bending the trees, and tossing out the nests, 

 young and all, to the ground; many of the old birds 

 seem to have forsaken the trees, and are away from 

 this scene of desolation. In some of the neigh- 

 bouring colonies I hear the destruction has been 

 more extensive still : many birds having lost their 

 first nests construct others, and succeed in rearing 

 up later broods occasionally; but this the poor rook 

 cannot hope to accomplish : building early, they 

 hatch their young in April, and all take flight in 



