110 NATUKAL HISTOKY AND 



ing pheasants a few days old. Two pairs of jack- 

 daws, after a long drought, were shot in the act 

 of picking up pheasants from the coops as soon 

 as they were hatched, to satisfy the craving of 

 their voracious families. I am convinced, how- 

 ever, that these evil deeds are exceptional, and 

 that almost any bird, as well as omnivorous crows, 

 when deprived of its favourite food, can subsist 

 and even thrive on what it likes far less, and 

 would indeed otherwise reject. 



An appropriate rookery surrounds the old castle 

 here, and to watch the order and discretion of the 

 sable colony when superintending the education 

 of their respective families was a favourite pas- 

 time of mine all last spring. From the time they 

 emerge from the wicker nursery, and are pro- 

 moted to the schoolroom as " branchers," the 

 system of rook instruction begins. They are 

 taught to use a convenient bough always above 

 the nest, and the parents, in bringing food, ap- 

 proach the nest-tree where they can, be first dis- 

 cerned from this look-out twig. At first, when 

 fed, the perchers were apt to plump down into 

 the nest ; but soon becoming stronger, they hopped 



