Crows. 275 



they come in a minute or two. Other birds fly for a 

 purpose : the peewit seems to find enjoyment beating 

 to and fro in the air. 



Crows frequently build in oaks, and unless they 

 are driven away by shot will return to the same 

 neighborhood the following year. They appear to 

 prefer places near water, and long after the nesting- 

 time is past will visit the spot. Small birds will 

 sometimes angrily pursue them through the air as 

 they will hawks. As autumn approaches the swal- 

 lows congregate on warm afternoons on church 

 steeples ; they may be seen whirling round and 

 round in large flocks, and presently settling. I saw 

 a crow go past a steeple a short time since, where 

 there was a crowd of swallows, when immediately the 

 whole flock took wing, and circled about the crow, 

 following him for some distance. He made an 

 awkward attempt once to get at some of them, but 

 their swiftness of wing took them far out of his reach. 

 Crows make no friends ; rooks, on the contrary make 

 many, and are often accompanied by several other 

 species of birds. A certain friendliness, too, seems 

 to exist between sparrows, chaffinches, and green- 

 finches, which are often found together. 



Some fields are divided into two by a long line of 

 posts and rails, which in time become gray from the 

 lichen growing on the wood. The cuckoos in spring 

 seem to like resting on such rails better than the 

 hedges ; and when they are courting, two, or even 

 three, may be sometimes seen on them together. 

 Presently they fly, and are lost sight of behind the 

 trees ; but one or other is nearly sure to come back 

 to the rails again after a while. Cuckoos perch fre- 



