184 The Rook. 



hearts to sing," but, he adds, and we think that 

 no one who has lived within earshot of a rookery 

 will disagree with him, " with no great success/' 



While they are building and repairing their 

 nests they are most pugnacious and thievish, as not 

 only will they, as we have said, prevent a pair 

 building in what may seem to the majority 

 an unsuitable site, but they are constantly 

 endeavouring to rob one another of their nesting 

 materials, and woe betide the unwary pair that 

 are rash enough to be absent from their nest at 

 the same time ; on their return they will, in all 

 probability, find the labour of days destroyed, and 

 nothing but the poorest foundation left of what 

 was on their departure, probably a very short 

 half hour before, a promising structure. Our 

 observation leads us to believe that only the very 

 young and inexperienced birds leave their homes 

 in company. As a rule one bird remains on guard 

 while its mate goes afield, and the unfortunate 

 stay-at-home often has to fight against long odds 

 in defence of its nest, which would, were it not 

 stoutly defended, be torn from under it. Occa- 

 sionally an enterprising pair will separate them- 

 selves from their companions and build sufficiently 

 far from the nearest rookery to be free from 

 molestation, though after their nest is built they 

 in many cases, apparently finding solitude not so 

 pleasant as they anticipated, desert it and return, 

 no doubt in a penitent mood, to their former 

 friends. 



