The Rook. 183 



nests during the coming winter. This business 

 having been satisfactorily accomplished, they again 

 leave, and remain out of town until the end of 

 January or early in February, when they return 

 to their homes, and begin at once to prepare for 

 family cares. 



Rooks, whether of town or country, live in large 

 communities, and their form of government is, so 

 far as we can understand it, republican; but in 

 their case, as happens in more highly organised 

 communities, a democratic government does not 

 lead to absolute freedom of the subject. Let 

 anyone who doubts this watch the inhabitants of a 

 rookery in early spring, and we shall be surprised 

 if he does not see at least one pair, probably young 

 and inexperienced birds, endeavouring to build a 

 nest in a position, generally a short distance from 

 the main rookery, evidently disapproved of by the 

 governing body. So far as the human observer's 

 understanding can carry him, the offending pair 

 are within their right in making their choice of 

 a home, but this is evidently not the opinion of 

 the powers that be, and the nest is destroyed again 

 and again, if need be, until, apparently driven to 

 despair, the wretched couple accept the inevitable, 

 and make their home, not in the place of their 

 choice, but in a position allotted to them by the 

 ruling body. When first they return to their 

 nest-trees in the spring, rooks are most noisy 

 birds. According to Gilbert White, at this season 

 "they attempt sometimes in the gaiety of their 



