206 THE OPEN AIR. 



OUT OF DOORS IN FEBRUARY. 



THE cawing of the rooks in February shows that the 

 time is coming when their nests will be re-occupied. 

 They resort to the trees, and perch above the old 

 nests to indicate their rights ; for in the rookery pos- 

 session is the law, and not nine-tenths of it only. In 

 the slow dull cold of winter even these noisy birds 

 are quiet, and as the vast flocks pass over, night and 

 morning, to and from the woods in which they roost, 

 there is scarcely a sound. Through the mist their 

 black wings advance in silence, the jackdaws with 

 them are chilled into unwonted quiet, and unless you 

 chance to look up the crowd may go over unnoticed. 

 But so soon as the waters begin to make a sound in 

 February, running in the ditches and splashing over 

 stones, the rooks commence the speeches and conver- 

 sations which will continue till late into the following 

 autumn. 



The general idea is that they pair in February, 

 but there are some reasons for thinking that the 

 rooks, in fact, choose their mates at the end of the 

 preceding summer. They are then in large flocks, 

 and if only casually glanced at appear mixed together 

 without any order or arrangement. They move on 

 the ground and fly in the air so close ; one beside 



