Rooks and Rats 159 



To the adjoining rickyard redstarts come every sum- 

 mer, building their nests there ; i horse-matchers ' or 

 stonechats also in summer often visit the rickyard, though 

 they do not build in it. Some elm trees shade the ricks, 

 and once now and then a wood-pigeon settles in them for 

 a little while. The coo of the dove may be heard fre- 

 quently, but she does not build very near the house. 



On this farm the rookery is at some distance in the 

 meadows, and the rooks rarely come nearer than the field 

 just outside the post and rails that enclose the rickyard, 

 though they pass over constantly, flying low down without 

 fear, unless some one chances just then to come out carry- 

 ing a gun. Then they seem seized with an uncontrollable 

 panic, and stop short in their career by a violent effort of 

 the wings, to wheel off immediately at a tangent. Per- 

 haps no other bird shows such evident signs of recognising 

 a gun. Chaffinches, it must not be forgotten, frequent 

 the rickyard in numbers. 



Finally come the rats. Though trapped, shot, and 

 ferreted without mercy, the rats insist on a share of the 

 good things going. They especially haunt the pigsties, 

 and when the pigs are served with their food feed witli 

 them at the same trough. Those old rats that come to the 

 farmstead are cunning fierce beasts, not to be destroyed with- 

 out much difficulty. They will not step on a trap, though 

 never so cleverly laid ; they will face a ferret, unless he 

 happens to be particularly large and determined, and bite 

 viciously at dogs. But with all their cunning there is 

 one simple trick which they are not up to : this is to post 

 yourself high up above the ground, when they will not 

 suspect your presence ; a ladder is placed against a tree 

 within easy shot of the pigsty, and the gunner, having pre- 

 viously arranged that everything shall be kept quiet, takes 



