118 BRITISH LAND BIRDS. 



and early to rise" is the rook's inotto. The rooks 

 seldom begin to build in good earnest before the 

 first week in March. The whole business of 

 nidification takes two months, of which about 

 five weeks are taken up in building and hatching, 

 and the remaining three devoted to feeding and 

 rearing the young till able to leave the nest. 



Bishop Stanley gives a very pleasing anecdote 

 of these birds. It shows a power of discrimi- 

 nating individuals which is remarkable, and 

 it also lets us into the secret of winning the affec- 

 tion of the lower animals. Clearly, they are 

 sensitive to kindness, and capable of returning it. 

 A farmer rented a farm in Essex, on which he had 

 not long resided before a number of rooks came 

 and built their nests upon the trees immediately 

 surrounding the premises ; and multiplied so much 

 in the course of three or four years as to form a 

 considerable rookery, which he much prized. 

 About this time, however, he was induced to take 

 a larger farm ; and this obliged him to change his 

 residence and forsake his rooks. To his great 

 surprise and pleasure the whole rookery mani- 

 fested such an attachment towards him, as to 

 desert their former habitation and to accompany 

 him to his new abode, which was about three- 

 quarters of a mile off; and there they have con- 

 tinued to flourish ever since. ' It should be added 



