HOOKS PLANTING ACORNS. 133 



"they were planting a grove of oaks. The manner of their 

 " planting was thus : They first made little holes in the earth with 

 " their bills, going about and about until the hole was deep enough, 

 " and then they dropped in the acorn and covered it with earth and 

 "moss. This young plantation is now (1709) growing up to a 

 " thick grove of oaks fit for use, and of height for the crows to 

 " build their nests in. I told it to the owner of the ground, who 

 " observed them spring up and took care to secure their growth 

 " and rising. The season was the latter end of Autumn when all 

 " seeds were full ripe." I have never seen the work from which 

 this extract was made, and consequently do not know anything of 

 the Author's general ideas on Natural History or his tendency of 

 thought, but Mr. Harting, who is well acquainted with it, appears 

 to assume that the Author considered that the Rooks were moved 

 by a conscious intention to provide a future grove for building their 

 nests on that barren spot. I suppose that this " post hoc, propter 

 hoc " argument will scarcely need remark or refutation in these 

 days. But it would probably have appeared to be the height of 

 absurdity to the 18th century observer to have suggested the simple 

 idea that the Rooks were only following the very ordinary instinct 

 of concealing the superabundant food which their immediate 

 necessities did not require. This, however (just as in the case of the 

 Squirrels), was, it appears to me, no doubt the fact. I have not my- 

 self actually seen Rooks burying acorns, but along side of our oak 

 woods at Bloxworth the heath district extends ; and over this heath 

 district, to the extent of half-a-mile, at least, in width, there spring 

 up annually numerous young seedling oaks among the short stunted 

 furze and heather. This has been so for generations past, so much 

 so that a bare heather hill (on which may now often be seen many 

 little seedling oaks from the previous year's acorns) has borne, from 

 time immemorial, and still bears, the name of Oak-hill. The soil 

 here, and generally along this heath district, is such as to give no 

 chance of the oak seedling ever growing up to anything larger than 

 a mere bush, even supposing they escaped, which they seldom do, 

 for even one year, the nibbling off by cattle, and especially by 



