132 By Leafy Ways. 



he is yet no sharer in the dark deeds of the 

 latter. 



The history of the jackdaw, from the popular point 

 of view, consists largely of stories told to his discredit 

 concerning purloined spoons and misappropriated 

 jewellery, together with scraps of amusing speech. 



His robberies are no doubt real enough, but his 

 articulation is seldom distinct, and one may well be 

 sceptical with regard to such anecdotes as that which 

 relates how a jackdaw was caught red handed in the 

 kitchen ; how the angry cook threw over him some 

 scalding broth ; how the disconsolate bird moped and 

 pined and tried to hide his featherless crown, until 

 one day, seeing a bald-headed gentleman among the 

 guests at dinner, he hopped upon the back of his chair 

 and cried, with recovered cheerfulness, ' So you've 

 been at the pickled cockles !' 



ThQ jackdaw is given to wandering far in search of 

 food, and often accompanies the foraging parties of 

 the rookery. 



It is a mingled crew that gathers on the upland 

 fields where the only sign of man's dominion is the 

 rich brown earth of newly-turned furrows. 



From their ancestral elm-trees under the hill come 

 the solemn rooks, stately of gait and deliberate of 

 speech. 



A party of rockdoves, after wheeling round and 

 round the field, settle down in a corner by them- 

 selves. 



