Meadow Rooks. 243 



feathers were polished like a mirror. In feeding 

 they work in a grave, steady way a contrast to 

 the restless starlings who so often accompany them. 

 They do not put a sentinel in a tree to give warning 

 of the approach of an enemy. The whole flock is 

 generally on the ground together, and, if half-a- 

 dozen perch awhile on the trees, they soon descend. 

 So far are they from setting a watch, that if you 

 pass up outside the hedge to the leeward, on any 

 side except where the wind would carry the noise of 

 footsteps to them it is easy to get close some- 

 times, if they are feeding near the hedge, within 

 three or four yards. Of course if a rook happens to 

 be in a tree it will not be possible to do so ; but they 

 do not set a sentinel for this purpose. 



Rooks, in a general way, seem more at their ease 

 in the meadows than in the arable fields. In the 

 latter they are constantly fired at, if only with blank 

 charges, to alarm them from the seed, besides being 

 shouted at and frightened with clappers. The bird- 

 keeper's efforts are, however, of very little avail. If 

 he puts the flock up on one side of the field, they 

 lazily sail to a distant corner, and when he gets 

 there go back .again. They are fully aware that he 

 cannot injure them if they keep a certain distance ; 

 but this perpetual driving to and fro makes them 

 suspicious. In the meadows it is rare for them to be 

 shot at, and they are consequently much less timid. 



At the same time they can perfectly well distin- 

 guish a gun from a walking-stick. If you enter a 

 meadow with a gun under your arm, and find a flock 

 feeding, they immediately cease searching for food 

 and keep a strict watch on j'our movements ; and if 



