WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 285 



or the hill, and takes its accustomed place in the 

 return journey. 



So that, although if you casually observe a flock of 

 rooks in the daytime they seem to wander hither and 

 thither just as fancy leads, or as they are driven by 

 passers-by, in reality they have all their special haunts ; 

 they adhere to certain rules, and even act in concert, 

 thousands upon thousands of them at once, as if in 

 obedience to the word of command, and as if aware 

 of the precise moment at which to move. They have 

 their laws, from which there is no deviation ; they 

 are handed down unaltered from generation to gen- 

 eiation. Tradition, indeed, seems to be their main 

 guide, as it is with savage human tribes. They have 

 their particular feeding grounds ; and so you may 

 notice that, comparing ten or a dozen fields, one or 

 two will almost always be found to be frequented by 

 rooks while the rest are vacant. 



Here, for instance, is a meadow close to a farmstead 

 what is usually called the home field, from its prox- 

 imity to a house : here day after day rooks alight and 

 spend hours in it, as much at their ease as the nag 

 or the lambs brought up by hand. Another field, at 

 a distance, which to the human eye appears so much 

 more suitable being retired, quiet, and apparently 

 quite as full of food is deserted; they scarcely come 

 near it. The home field itself is not the attraction, 

 because other home fields are not so favoured. 



The tenacity with which rooks cling to localities is 

 often illustrated near great cities where buildings have 



