72 A Tomb. 



tower much as the rooks do their hereditary group 

 of trees at a distance from the wood they sleep in at 

 other seasons. How came the jackdaw to make its 

 nest on church towers in the first place ? The bird 

 has become so associated with churches that it is 

 difficult to separate the two ; yet it is certain that 

 the "bird preceded the building. Archaeologists tell 

 us that stone buildings of any elevation, whether for 

 religious purposes or defence, were not erected till 

 a comparatively late date in this island. Now, the 

 low huts of primeval peoples would hardly attract 

 the jackdaw. It is the argument of those who be- 

 lieve in immutable and infallible instinct that the 

 habits of birds, &c., are unchangeable: the bee 

 building a cell to-day exactly as it built one cen- 

 turies before our era. Have we not here, however, 

 a modification of habit? 



The jackdaw could not have originally built in tall 

 stone buildings. Localizing the question to this 

 country, may we not almost fix the date when the 

 jackdaw began to use the church, or the battlements 

 of the tower, by marking the time of their first erec- 

 tion? The jackdaw was clever enough, and had rea- 

 son sufficient to enable him to see how these high, 

 isolated positions suited his peculiar habits ; and I 

 am bold enough to think that if the bee could be 

 shown a better mode of building her comb, she would 

 in time come to use it. 



In the churchyard, not far from the foot of the 

 tower where the jackdaws are so busy, stands a great 

 square tomb, built of four slabs of stone on edge 

 and a broader one laid on the top. The inscription 

 is barely legible, worn away by the ironshod heels of 



