240 Rooks infested with Vermin. 



observed, old birds will linger with young ones at a 

 little distance, and may then be mistaken as also 

 on the following da} r , when sportsmen go round to 

 pick up the outsiders, and frequently come on old 

 and young together. The old bird will not sit and 

 let you aim at him perching; if you shoot him, it 

 must be on the wing. The young bird will sit and 

 let you pick him off' with a crossbow, and even if a 

 cartridge singes his wing he will sometimes only hop 

 a yard or two along the boughs. 



Though hard hit and shattered with shot, they 

 will cling to the branches convulsively, seeming to 

 hang by the crook of the claw or by muscular con- 

 traction even when perfectly dead, till lifted up by a 

 shot fired directly underneath, or till the bough itself 

 is skilfulty cut off by a cartridge and both come down 

 together. The young feathers being soft, and the 

 quills not so hard as in older birds, scarcely a rook- 

 shooting ever goes by without some one claiming to 

 have made a tremendous long shot, which is quite 

 possible, as it does not require many pellets or much 

 force behind them. 



On dropping a rook, probably at some distance 

 from the rookery, where the men are whose duty it 

 is to collect the slain, beware of carrying the bird ; 

 let him lie, or at most throw him upon a bramble 

 bush in a conspicuous spot till a boy comes round. 

 Rooks are perfectly infested with vermin, which in a 

 few minutes will pass up their legs on to your hand, 

 and cause an unpleasant irritation, though it is only 

 temporary ; for the insects cannot exist long away 

 from the bird. 



The young birds are occasionally stolen from 



