386 



THE JACKDAW. 



iug-place for the eggs. The Rook is a very gregarious bird, buildiug 

 in numbers on the boughs of contiguous trees, and having a kind of 

 social compact that often rises into the dignity of law. For exam- 

 ple, the elder Rooks will not permit the younger members of the com- 

 munity to build their nests upon an isolated tree at a distance from 

 the general assemblage, and if they attempt to infringe this reg- 

 ulation always attack the offending nest in a body and tear it to 

 pieces. 



The number of birds which are to be found in such rookeries is 

 enormously great, several thousands having been counted in a single 

 assemblage. In such cases they do great damage to the upper branches 

 of the trees, and in some instances have been known to kill the tree 

 by the continual destruction of the growing boughs. 



The color of the Rook is a glossy, deep blue-black, the blue being 

 more conspicuous on the wing-coverts and the sides of the head and 



neck. The length 

 of an adult Rook 

 is about eighteen 

 or nineteen inches. 

 The smallest of 

 the British Cor- 

 vidse is the well- 

 known Jackdaw, 

 a bird of infinite 

 wit and humor, 

 and one that has 

 an extraordinary 

 attachment for 

 man and his hab- 

 itations. 



Tiie Jackdaw 

 may easily be dis- 

 tinguished from 

 either the rook or 

 the crow by the 

 gray patch upon 

 .p„^ J ^, the crown of the 



IHE Jackdaw parvus .uonedala). ^ead and back of 



t lie neck, ^yhlch is very conspicuous and can be seen at a considerable 

 dis ance. Ihe voice, too, is entirely different from the caw of the rook 

 or the hoarse cry of the crow; and, as the bird is very loquacious, it 

 soon announces itself by the tone of its voice. It generally takes up 

 Its home near houses, and is fond of nesting in old buildings, especially 

 preferring the steeples aud towers of churches and similar edifices, where 



