The Open Air 



yard. In a moment or two a peahen followed and 

 also stretched out her neck the two long necks 

 pointing at the black flapping wing. A second 

 peacock and peahen approached, and the four great 

 birds stretched out their necks towards the dying 

 rook a " crowner's quest " upon the unfortunate 

 creature. 



If any one had been at hand to sketch it, the scene 

 would have been very grotesque, and not without 

 a ludicrous sadness. There was the tall elm tinted 

 with yellow, the black rooks high above flying in and 

 out, yellow leaves twirling down, the blue peacocks 

 with their crests, the red barn behind, the golden 

 sun afar shining low through the trees of the park, 

 the brown autumn sward, a grey horse, orange 

 maple bushes. There was the quiet tone of the 

 coming evening the early evening of October such 

 an evening as the rook had seen many a time from 

 the tops of the trees. A man dies, and the crowd 

 goes on passing under the window along the street 

 without a thought. The rook died, and his friends, 

 who had that day been with him in the oaks feasting 

 on acorns, who had been with him in the fresh-turned 

 furrows, born perhaps in the same nest, utterly for- 

 got him before he was dead. With a great common 

 caw a common shout they suddenly left the tree in 

 a bevy and flew towards the park. The peacocks 

 having brought in their verdict, departed, and the 

 dead bird was left alone. 



In falling out of the elm, the rook had alighted 

 partly on his side and partly on his back, so that he 

 could only flutter one wing, the other being held 

 down by his own weight. He had probably died 

 from picking up poisoned grain somewhere, or from 

 a parasite. The weather had been open, and he 



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