ROOKS. 



but scanty accommodation for their nests owing to the peculiar 

 growth of its branches. In the above instance, however, they 

 certainly gave the oak a preference, leaving an elm-tree close at 

 hand untenanted. These birds return at a particular time in 

 autumn, and for a few days seem to be very busy about their 

 nests, as if preparing them for immediate use, and then desert 

 them for the winter : no reason has been discovered for this 

 singular habit. 



Rooks, we have seen, will occasionally remove, and colonise 

 other situations at a distance from their late frequented abodes ; 

 and, as some persons may wish to establish a rookery in their 

 own immediate neighbourhood, it has been said, that by look- 

 ing out for a Magpie's nest near the wished-for spot, and 

 exchanging her eggs for those of a Rook, the desirable point 

 may be accomplished ; the young Rooks having no other 

 associations than those of the tree in which they were bred, 

 and being sure of a harsh reception, if not of being pecked to 

 death, if venturing to join any neighbouring rookery in which 

 they have no family connections. In the spring of 1847, a 

 rather singular strife took place between the Rooks which for 

 many years occupied a large tree in the garden of Westhill 

 Terrace, Sheffield, and a pair of stranger Rooks which had 

 established themselves on a neighbouring tree, illustrative of 

 the jealousy entertained by these birds of interlopers not imme- 

 diately belonging to their own clan. The stranger birds had 

 almost completed their nest, when their neighbours, disapprov- 

 ing of a new or rival colony, watched their opportunity, and 

 descending in a body, wreaked their vengeance on the nest, 

 which they soon destroyed. Several times was this scene re- 

 peated; at length, however, profiting by experience, it was 

 deemed advisable for one of the birds to remain constantly at 

 the nest, to repel any attempts that might be made upon it by 

 their enemies. So rigorously, indeed, was this caution observed, 

 that the one remaining at home was supplied with food by the 

 other. Many attempts were, notwithstanding, made upon it, 

 but the united energies of these two persevering birds enabled 

 them to rear their nestlings in spite of the determined opposi- 

 tion of the original possessors of the adjacent rookery. 



