THE ROOK. 147 



have a perverse pleasure in absenting themselves 

 from the spots where their presence would be 

 the most welcome. There is a delightful country 

 residence, which we were accustomed to frequent 

 some years since : it abounded in rural sights 

 and sounds, and seemed to us to possess almost 

 all the pleasant appendages of a country abode, 

 except a rookery. The owner of the mansion, 

 in common with every true lover of nature, co- 

 veted the society of the cawing race ; but never 

 could these wayward birds be lured into the 

 neighbourhood, till a large dairy was established 

 on the outskirts of the estate, on the borders of 

 a fine range of pasture-ground. The dairy, and 

 its picturesque accompaniments, attracted many 

 visitors, and among others the rooks ; a colony 

 of these amusing birds soon established them- 

 selves on the loftiest trees in the adjoining cop- 

 pice. There they have dwelt ever since, cawing 

 and croaking; quarrelling and nest building; 

 rearing their young ; destroying the grubs in 

 winter and spring, and devouring the corn in 

 harvest, with all the characteristic energy of the 

 tribe. 



We cannot persuade ourselves to finish this 

 chapter on rooks, without quoting from our fa- 

 vourite White, his animated sketch of their even- 

 ing manoeuvres, as he was wont to observe them 



H2 



