440 THE ROLL OF THE SEASONS 



wisdom, in which the rook excels, is an almost un- 

 canny development of communalism. Two crows 

 going through a hostile country give a very good 

 exhibition of the art of scouting, while an army of 

 rooks has always been noticeable for the careful way 

 in which it sets sentinels. The sentinel who starves 

 in a tree, while his fellows are engaged in loot, is a 

 fine exhibition of unselfishness for the common cause. 

 If sometimes he swoops down without waiting to be 

 relieved, have there not been also human sentinels 

 who have deserted their post ? The reflection leads 

 us up to those old stories still told of corvine courts- 

 martial, wherein defaulting sentinels and others are 

 said to have been condemned and solemnly executed. 

 They are possibly all myths, though we live in secret 

 hope of some day seeing them authentically verified. 

 But the undoubted things about rooks are, after all, 

 interesting enough. 



The social practice of the rooks has by no means 

 eradicated their individual vices. The strong arm of 

 the law, if there be such, is powerless to prevent one 

 rook from pilfering in the openest fashion from the 

 unguarded nest of another, so that during the building 

 season there is almost always one rook guarding every 

 nest, while another fetches the material. The grand 

 offence against the community is to build in a tree, 

 however near, that is not considered to be within the 

 city boundary. Now, as in the days of Gilbert White, 

 such a nest is " plundered and demolished at once." 

 White also told us that some unfortunate young pairs 

 are not allowed to build anywhere till the rest have 

 finished. " As soon as they get a few sticks together 

 a party comes and demolishes the whole." Our own 



