THE ROOK. 



95 



no nest, and must therefore get up one as 

 well as they can. But not only the materials 

 are wanting, but also the place in which to 

 fix it. Every part of a tree will not do for 

 this purpose, as some branches may not be 

 sufficiently forked ; others may not be suffi- 

 ciently strong; and still others may be too 



eaten away by the larvse of the cockchafer, which were 

 found in countless numbers at various depths in the soil. 

 This field was visited by a great quantity of rooks, though 

 there was no rookery within many miles of the neigh- 

 bourhood, who turned up and appeared to devour the 

 grubs with great satisfaction. 



Rooks are fond of company, the jackdaw and even 

 the starling being allowed to associate with them, and a 

 mutual good understanding seems to exist amongst them. 

 Even the sparrow is sometimes allowed to build its nest 

 under the protection of that of a rook. 



Wilson, in his American Ornithology, says that 

 crows have been employed to catch crows by the follow- 

 ing stratagem : A live crow is pinned by the wings 

 down to the ground on his back, by means of two sharp 

 forked sticks. Thus situated, his cries are loud and 

 incessant, particularly if any other crows are within 

 view. These sweeping down about him, are instantly 

 grappled and held fast by the prostrate prisoner, with 

 the same instinctive impulse that urges a drowning per- 

 son to gra?p at every thing within his reach. The 

 game being disengaged from his clutches, the trap is 

 again ready for another experiment; and by pinning 

 down each captive successively, as soon as taken, iri a 

 short time you will probably have a large flock scream- 

 ing above you, in concert with the outrageous prisoners 

 below.* 



The same author mentions an agreeable instance of 

 attachment in a crow. " A gentleman, who resided on 

 the Delaware, a few miles below Easton, had raised 

 (reared) a crow, with whose tricks and society he used 

 frequently to amuse himself. This crow lived long in 

 the family, but at length disappeared, having, as was 

 then supposed, been shot by some vagrant gunner, or 

 destroyed by accident. About eleven months after this, 

 as the gentleman, one morning, in company "with 

 several others, was standing on the river shore, a num- 

 ber of crows happening to pass by, one of them left the 

 flock, and flying directly towards the company, alighted 

 on the gentleman's shoulder, and began to gabble away 

 with great volubility, as one long absent friend naturally 

 enough does on meeting with another. Recovering from 

 his surprise, the gentleman instantly recognised his old 

 acquaintance, and endeavoured, by several civil, but sly 

 manoeuvres, to lay hold of him: but the crow, not alto- 

 gether relishing quite so much familiarity, having now 

 had a taste of the sweets of liberty, cautiously eluded all 

 his attempts ; and suddenly glancing his eye on his dis- 

 tant companions, mounted in the air after them, soon 

 overtook and mingled with them, and was never after- 

 wards seen to return." 



The rook seems to be even more unpopular in America 

 than he is in this country. Mr Wilson says, that he is 

 there branded as a thief and a plunderer ; a kind of 

 black-coated vagabond, who hovers over the fields of the 

 industrious, fattening on their labours, and, by his vo- 

 racity, often blasting their expectations. Hated as he 

 is by the farmer, watched and persecuted by almost 

 every bearer of a gun, who all triumph in his destruc- 

 tion, had not heaven bestowed on him intelligence and 

 sagacity, far beyond what is common in other birds, 

 there is reason to believe that the whole tribe would 

 long ago have ceased to exist. 



* This method of catching- crows is, I believe, practised in 

 some parts of Enghmd to catch jays, who make a most violent 

 outcry when piuued to the ground. 



much exposed to the rockings of the wind. 

 The male and female upon this occasion are, 

 for some days, seen, examining all the trees 

 of the grove very attentively ; and when they 

 have fixed upon a branch that seems fit for 

 their purpose, they continue to sit upon and 

 observe it very sedulously for two or three 



The average number of rooks' nests, during the last 

 four years, in the avenue of Hampton Court Park, has 

 been about 750. Allowing three young birds and a 

 pair of old ones to each nest, the number would amount 

 to 3750. They are very particular that none of their 

 society build away from the usual line of trees. A pair 

 of rooks did so this spring, and when their nest was 

 nearly finished, at least fifty others came and demolished 

 it in a few minutes. Rooks may be seen teaching their 

 young to fly as soon as they leave the nest, advancing a 

 little way before, and calling upon them to follow. These 

 short flights are incessantly repeated, till the young ones 

 have acquired sufficient strength and skill to follow the 

 old birds. 



Rooks sometimes choose odd places to build in, and 

 where AVC should have hardly expected to find the riest 

 of a bird of such social habits". Dr Mitchell says that a 

 few years ago a pair of rooks built their nest between the 

 wings of the dragon of Bow Church in London. They 

 remained there till the steeple required repairs. He 

 adds, that the same or another pair have this spring 

 built their nest on the top of a large plane tree in Wood 

 Street, close to Cheapside. Last season a hawk built 

 its nest under the dome of St Paul's, and a similar oc- 

 currence took place about forty years ago. Another of 

 the falcon tribe had its nest, a few years ago, in the top 

 of the steeple of Spitalfields Church. 



Colonel Montague mentions an instance of great 

 sagacity in crows. He observed two of them by the 

 sea-shore, busy in removing small fish beyond the flux 

 of the flowing tide, and depositing them just above high- 

 water mark, under the broken rocks, after having satis- 

 fied the calls of hunger. 



Mr Hone, in his " Every Day Book," has intro- 

 duced an agreeable anecdote respecting a rookery on 

 some high trees behind the Ecclesiastical Court, in 

 Doctor's Commons. "Some years ago there were 

 several large elm trees in the college garden behind the 

 Ecclesiastical Court, in Doctor's Commons, in which a 

 number of rooks had taken up their abode, forming, in 

 appearance, a sort of convocation of aerial ecclesiastics. 

 A young gentleman, who lodged in an attic, and was 

 their close neighbour, frequently entertained himself 

 with thinning this covey of black game, by means of a 

 cross-bow. On the opposite side lived a curious old 

 civilian, who observing from his study that the rooks 

 often dropped senseless from their perch, or, as it may 

 be said, without using a figure, hopp'd the twig, making 

 no sign, nor any sign being made to his vision to ac- 

 count for the phenomenon, set his wits to work to dis- 

 cover the cause. It was probably during a profitless 

 time of peace, and the doctor having plenty of leisure, 

 weighed the matter over and over, till he was at length 

 fully satisfied that he had made a great ornithological 

 discovery, that its promulgation would give wings to his 

 fame, and that he was fated by means of these rooks to 

 say 



Volito vivus per ora virum. 



His goose-quill and foolscap were quickly in requi- 

 sition, and he actually wrote a treatise, stating circum- 

 stantially what he himself had seen, and in conclusion, 

 giving it as the settled conviction of his mind, that rooks 

 were subject to the falling sickness I " Jesse's Glean- 

 ings, Vol. /. 



