CHAPTER XV. 



Rooks returning to roost Vast flocks Rook parliament The two 

 rook armies and their routes Rook laws, traditions, and 

 ancient history " Throws " of timber Thieving jackdaws. 



AS evening approaches, and the rooks begin to wing 

 J~\ their way homewards, sometimes a great num- 

 ber of them will alight upon the steep ascent close 

 under the entrenchment on the downs which has been 

 described, and from whence the wood and beech trees 

 where they sleep can be seen. They do not seem so 

 much in search of food, of which probably there is 

 not a great deal to be found in the short, dried-up 

 herbage and hard soil, as to rest here, halfway home 

 from the arable fields. Sometimes they wheel and 

 circle in fantastic flight over the very brow of the 

 down, just above the rampart ; occasionally, in the 

 raw, cold days of winter, they perch, moping in dis- 

 consolate mood, upon the bare branches of the clumps 

 of trees on the ridge. 



After the nesting time is over and they have got 

 back to their old habits which during that period 

 are quite reversed it is a sight to see from hence 

 the long black stream in the air steadily flowing on- 



