ROOKS AND ROOKERIES. 55 



their nest till the woodman's axe has brought it toppling 

 to the ground. 



The Rook's nest is a well-made one, very firm and 

 compact, formed externally of sticks, cemented with 

 mud, and partially lined with the same material. A 

 further lining of dry leaves, pieces of turf, moss, wool, and 

 feathers is added. The nest is rather flat and shallow, 

 and the cavity containing the eggs is very smooth and 

 small in proportion to the entire structure. Sometimes 

 several nests are made together in one dense cluster, 

 and as a rule they are built in the topmost branches as 

 far from the main stem of the tree as is compatible 

 with safety. During the early period of nest-building, 

 the birds only work in the morning, and, certainly in 

 the smaller rookeries, never remain in the trees all night 

 until the first eggs are laid. These eggs are from three 

 to five in number, bluish green, of various shades in 

 ground colour, spotted and blotched with olive brown 

 and gray. Both parents assist in hatching the eggs, 

 and the sitting bird is fed assiduously on the nest by its 

 mate. As the welcome food is being swallowed, the 

 brooding bird utters a series of rapid caws, and very 

 often hops out of the nest on to a branch and waits with 

 fluttering wings the arrival of its mate. Soon we may 

 hear the feeble cries of the young Rooks, and in a week 

 or so more they leave the nests and perch on the 

 branches, many of them falling to the ground, where they 



