THE ROOK AND JACKDAW 51 



pigeon, several times in October, November, and December. The 

 same applies more or less to the blue-tit, lark, barn-owl, golden- 

 plover, partridge, pheasant, starling, hedge-sparrow, linnet, pied wag- 

 tail, to confine oneself to the species whose winter nestings are 

 recorded in the indexes of the Field. Other, and even more definite 

 indications relating to a number of American species are to be found 

 in the Auk (xv. 194 ; xvi. 286). The whole evidence goes to show con- 

 clusively that, given encouraging weather, individuals of many widely 

 distinct species are prepared to start breeding after the autumn 

 moult. 1 



In concluding this section, let us note that the rook and the daw, 

 like their congeners, make lively, mischievous, and interesting pets. 

 Anecdotes of their cranks and oddities are numerous. The following 

 must suffice. It concerns a tame rook that passed his life in a 

 poultry yard, where he became the inseparable friend of a cock 

 and two hens. The cock was his chief favourite, and each 

 night he would sleep beside him, trying to nestle under his wing. 

 He took a fraternal interest in the personal appearance of his two 

 hen friends, frequently taking it upon himself to arrange and dress 

 their feathers to his taste, services that did riot always give entire 

 satisfaction to the fair recipients. This friendship lasted several 

 years, so long, in fact, that the rook lived to "bury" all his three 

 comrades. He attended the last moments of each in turn with the 

 most assiduous affection, and remained long inconsolable for their 

 loss. When he recovered his spirits, he formed no new friendships. 

 He continued to take an interest in the poultry, but it assumed a 

 form which found favour with no one but himself. It developed into 

 an almost daily race between the bird and the housemaid, whenever, 

 by her long cackling, a hen announced that a fresh egg was to be had 

 for the taking. A taste for eggs is indeed the pet vice of the whole 



1 For instances of the autumn and winter nesting and breeding of rooks, see the Zoologist, 

 1845, p. 868 ; 1863, p. 8846 ; 1864, p. 8885 ; 1871, p. 2440 (E. Newman), p. 2483 ; 1904, p. 421 (F. C. R. 

 Jourdain) ; and the Field, 1863, xxii. 460 ; 1864, xxiv. 330, 365 ; 1865, xxvi. 308 ; 1866, xxvii. 273, 396 ; 

 id., xxviii. 381, 453 ; 1868, xxxii. 388 ; 1876, xlvi. 504 (crow) ; 1882, Ix. 569, 670 ; 1884, Ixii. 760 ; 1890, 

 Nov. 698; 1893, Oct. 28, Nov. 18; 1900, Nov. 17. 



