72 PHEASANTS FOR COVERTS AND AVIARIES. 



rabbit up in his claws several yards, and then drop it on his 

 approach." 



Mr. Leno, a very extensive pheasant breeder, states the 

 case still more forcibly : " My experience is, that rooks will 

 destroy pheasants' eggs whenever they happen to find them 

 out. In one week a rook came twice and settled down in my 

 pheasantry, and took an egg away each time ; and where 

 rooks abound, if perchance a pheasant's or partridge's 

 nest is left by the mowers, the rooks may be seen crowding 

 around the patch of grass left for shelter, and the eggs 

 are finished in quick time. It is useless to leave a nest 

 exposed in the neighbourhood of rooks, as they are sure to 

 eat them." 



Mr. Harman, of Eiverstown, co. Sligo, writes : " I can 

 confirm the destruction of pheasants' eggs. A few years 

 ago, in a dry spring, with a north-east wind for many weeks, 

 when the rooks could not bore for their accustomed food, 

 about one hundred and fifty pheasants' eggs i.e., the shells 

 were found under the rookery near the house, having been 

 taken by the rooks to feed their young, other food failing 

 them. I have caught them when baiting traps with eggs for 

 magpies." 



Mr. J. E. Harting informs me that on one occasion, in the 

 month of April, about the 1 4th or 15th, he saw a rook in the 

 act of carrying off a pheasant's egg from a copse in West 

 Sussex. The bird was carrying the egg upon the point of the 

 bill, and on being fired at he dropped it. There was a large 

 and irregularly shaped hole towards the larger end. On the 

 very ground where this occurred, my informant had heard the 

 keeper say that he had on more than one occasion shot rooks 

 in the act of carrying off pheasants' eggs. 



The balance of the evidence for and against the rook in 

 respect of conduct regarding the eggs of pheasants, appears 

 to show that, when hard pressed for food, rooks will even 

 destroy not only eggs but also the young birds. A correspon- 

 dent writes as follows : " On June ] 3 my keeper observed 



