324 ROOKS. 



they had become a perfect pest. The rook however, 

 so far as our experience goes, is not a bird of the 

 wilderness ; he may exist there, as the pigeon used to 

 do; but he prefers the kindly neighbourhood of the 

 ancient church, or the ancestral hall. He is a dis- 

 tinctly aristocratic bird, and in Britain the rookery is 

 rarely to be found except in the country seats of the 

 noble, or of the squire of ancient lineage. 



These facts however, tend to show how certain 

 species of bird life cling to the society of man. Where 

 he leads the way, they follow: where he prospers, 

 they also prosper. They live upon man and his 

 industry; and (when they prove good to eat) man 

 returns the compliment by living upon them whenever 

 he can get them. 



But yet again there is another class of birds which 

 live still more closely with man, and make their home 

 in his cities, and their feeding grounds in their most 

 crowded thoroughfares. 



The London sparrow is a typical instance of these. 

 This sparrow, or closely allied species of the same 

 birds, may be seen almost everywhere in the great 

 cities of the earth, in New York, in Calcutta, in Mel- 

 bourne, or Cape Town. Everywhere he is to be found 

 in close attendance upon man, as we can personally 

 testify. In London and the cities of Europe he is 

 still more or less a welcome guest; but in America 

 great complaints of his misdeeds have been made, and 

 his depredations upon grain and other stores have 

 earned for him an unenviable notoriety there. In differ- 

 ent parts of the world there are several other classes 

 of birds which in like manner quarter themselves 

 upon the cities in various capacities, either as grain 



