38 . THE CROW FAMILY 



of some invisible quarry." Similes apart, this mad chase differs little 

 from the equally mad dance in the roosting trees. 1 



The rising at daybreak of the rooks and their satellite daws is just 

 as noisy and lively, and perhaps more joyous than their going to rest. 

 In the half light, the roost itself seems almost a living thing, with 

 one soul and many tongues, until the departing hosts leave it naked, 

 empty, silent, a skeleton upon the waste. 



It appears to be the usual custom of rooks and daws, on leaving 

 their sleeping quarters, to repair each morning to their nesting places, 

 where, after mid-air gymnastics and much animated conversation, 

 they fly off to their feeding grounds, returning again during the 

 course of the day. To the subject of these daily visits we shall have 

 to revert. 



Early in the year the visits to the rookery (nesting trees) become 

 more frequent and prolonged ; and in February, sometimes earlier, 

 sometimes later, according to the season and the more or less exposed 

 position of the rookery, the birds begin seriously to make their 

 preparations for the nesting season. 



The first important business is the courtship. This, being a 

 regular annual event, has not for the rook and the daws, or for 

 birds generally, the novelty it possesses for human individuals. It is 

 regarded as something to be entered upon in the same spirit as 

 any other familiar occupation, such as building a nest, finding food, 

 feeding young, or keeping clean. Birds, in fact, set about their 

 courtship in a strictly methodical manner; they conduct the affair 

 from start to finish in accordance with the recognised rules of 

 the game ; they know exactly what has to be done, and how. 

 They have no hesitations, no shyness ; they do not get flurried, 

 do not even lose their appetites. On the contrary, they will 

 interrupt the most ardent love-passages in order to adjourn for 

 refreshments. 



The particular form taken by the courtship of the rooks is well 



1 Birds in London, p. 55. 



