DO ROOKS SAY " CAW, CAW"? 91 



the sky was darkened with the great black 

 cloud. 



I used to wonder why they could not go to 

 bed quietly and at once without making such 

 a clamour. I fancied that each bird had his 

 own particular and favourite perch, and the 

 great argument was to find it, or perhaps the 

 late comers found their favourite perches 

 occupied, and so made a diurnal disturbance 

 about it. 



The " St. James's Gazette" writer says that 

 rooks don't really say caw-caw, although they 

 are constantly trying to say it ; the nearest 

 they can get to it is au-au, or sometimes awr- 

 awr. Very likely he is right ; but then his 

 rooks were suburban cockney rooks, and 

 what cockney ever spoke his own mother- 

 tongue correctly? Surely, if a cockney-man 

 cannot help calling raw, rawr, it is excusable 

 for a cockney rook to say ^wwhen he means 

 caw. 



But my rooks live hundreds of miles away ; 

 they are country-bred gentlemen, and they 

 speak their own language purely and without 

 mincing affectation. I am certain that a 

 well-bred country rook would never say awr- 

 awr when he means to say caw-caw. 



When I call my country rooks gentlemen, 

 I must qualify the statement by admitting 



