ROOKS AND ROOKERIES. 51 



and encouraged as an enemy a deadly enemy to 

 many of the insect pests of field and garden. 



The Rook will ever be associated with those noble 

 halls and country seats, surrounded by well-timbered 

 parks, and approached by avenues of tall elms and limes 

 and chestnuts, which add so much to the charm and 

 ancient picturesqueness of England. With us the Rook 

 is a homely bird, and loves to frequent the tall trees 

 near the habitation of man. It is one of the most 

 conservative of birds, disliking above all things to 

 change its quarters, or to quit its ancestral haunts in 

 certain trees. The railway may pass through its 

 favourite avenue or plantation ; houses and cities may be 

 built round the old familiar trees ; yet the Rook will 

 linger in them, a link with the past when what is no\v 

 smoke and grime, pollution and noise, was once a 

 sylvan scene of peace. I always view these built-in 

 rookeries with feelings of regret, and ever fancy that the 

 noisy sable birds have a touch of sadness in their voice, 

 as though lamenting the change in their fortunes. But 

 we will leave the town Rooks to their melancholy 

 surroundings and betake ourselves to the pure fresh air 

 of the open country, and study this interesting bird 

 among more congenial scenes. 



There are few birds more regular in their habits and 

 movements than the Rook. I speak thus from twenty 

 years' experience of this bird in both large rookeries and 



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