54 STRA Y FEA THERS FROM MANY BIRDS. 



when from no apparent cause the birds have removed 

 every twig in these structures, and built new homes in 

 the general colony. Other nests even in the old 

 accustomed trees are commenced and then abandoned 

 again for no perceptible motive. In some cases the 

 birds are much attached to a certain branch, and I have 

 known nest after nest begun only to be blown down by 

 the high winds. Choice of site is another matter of 

 strange caprice. In some cases I have known these 

 birds desert tall trees and make their nests in holly- 

 bushes. This may have been because the higher trees 

 were very much exposed on the summit of a hill and 

 the bushes afforded more shelter, the nests in them 

 being less likely to be blown down by gales. The Rook 

 pairs for life, and the same nest is used year afler year, 

 the owners patching up the old structure and increasing 

 it in bulk every spring. Young birds, and those whose 

 nests have been blown down during the winter, have to 

 make entirely new ones. The larger the nest the older 

 it is in most cases, and I am of opinion that the very 

 small nests are made by young birds. So compactly 

 are the nests put together that I know of rookeries 

 where great heaps of twigs, the remains of former nests, 

 still stay in the trees in spite of high winds, the owners 

 having deserted them or died. I have also known 

 Rooks desert trees which have been marked for felling, 

 though in other cases the poor birds have remained by 



