THE ROOK. 131 



unfortunately peeped into Kirk Alloway. Fo- 

 reigners tell us that on these nights Englishmen are 

 prone to use the knife, or a piece of twisted hemp, 

 to calm their agitated spirits. For my own part, I 

 must say that I have an insuperable repugnance to 

 such anodynes ; and, were a host of blue devils, 

 conjured up by November's fogs, just now to assail 

 me, I would prefer combating the phantoms with 

 the weapons of ornithology, rather than run any 

 risk of disturbing the economy of my jugular vein, 

 by a process productive of very unpleasant sensa- 

 tions, before it lulls one to rest. 



According to my promise, I will now pen down a 

 few remarks on the habits of the rook, which bird, 

 in good old sensible times, was styledfrugilegus. It is 

 now pronounced to be pradatorius. Who knows but 

 that our Great Ones in Ornithology may ultimately 

 determine to call it up to the house of hawks ? 



If this useful bird were not so closely allied to the 

 carrion crow in colour and in shape, we should see 

 it sent up to the tables of the rich as often as we 

 see the pigeon. But prejudice forbids the appearance 

 of broiled rook in the lordly mansion. If we wish 

 to partake of it, we must repair to the cottage of the 

 lowly swain, or, here and there, to the hall of the 

 homely country squire, whose kitchen has never been 

 blessed by the presence of a first-rate cook, and 

 whose yearnings for a good and wholesome dish are 

 not stifled by the fear of what a too-highly polished 

 world will say. 



' There is no wild bird in England so completely 



gregarious as the rook, or so regular in its daily 



K2 



