192 OUTDOOR LIFE IN ENGLAND 



build in the elm-trees near my house afford me 

 infinite amusement. Every morning they cross 

 the river to bathe in the ditches of the water- 

 meadows in front of my windows. Such a 

 tumbling about and sousing takes place ! I sup- 

 pose their object is to rid their bodies of the 

 vermin which infest them, more especially at this 

 time of year. When their ablutions are completed, 

 they hop about in the meadow to dry themselves. 

 A wet rook is a truly pitiable-looking object, but 

 when the feathers have been well preened and the 

 toilet is completed, the blue-black plumage is very 

 beautiful in the sunlight. 



Many years ago 1 remember to have seen a 

 number of rooks fishing for dace in the river 

 Cherwell with as great dexterity as gannets, though 

 not diving after the fish, as is the habit of those 

 birds. Hovering over the centre of the stream, 

 they made periodical descents on the shoals of 

 small fish which lay near the surface of the water 

 on the shallows. 



A friend of mine recently told me that he had 

 been an eye-witness of a rook parliament on the 

 Wiltshire downs. The rooks were arranged in a 

 kind of circle, one of their number, evidently a 

 defaulter, being in the midst. After some con- 

 siderable confabulation and chattering, they set 

 upon the wretched culprit and pecked him to 

 death. I have heard that rooks are in the 

 habit of thus holding a kind of court-martial on 

 some offending member of their community, but I 



