BIRDS IN THE HIGH HALL GARDEN 
of general warfare were to be inaugurated 
against them, the gregarious habit, so far 
from being a protection, would speedily and 
disastrously facilitate their extermination. 
Another curious habit noticed in these birds 
is that of flying on fine evenings to a con- 
siderable height and then swooping suddenly 
to earth, often on their backs. These antics, 
comparable to the drumming of snipe and 
roding of woodcock, are probably to be ex- 
plained on the same basis of sexual emotion. 
The so-called parliament of the rooks pro- 
bably owes much of its detail to the florid imagi- 
nation of enthusiasts, always ready to exagge- 
rate the wonders of Nature ; but it also seems 
to have some existence in fact, and privileged 
observers have actually described the trial and 
punishment of individuals that have broken 
the laws of the commune. I never saw this pro- 
cedure among rooks, but once watched some- 
thing very similar among the famous dogs of 
Constantinople, which no longer exist. 
The most important problem however in 
connection with the rook is the precise extent 
to which the bird is the farmer's enemy or his 
friend. On the solution hangs the rook's fate 
51 
