The City of the Rooks 2 1 3 



CHAPTER XIV. 



THE ROOKERY 'BUILDING NESTS YOUNG BIRDS ROOK SHOOTING 

 STEALING BOOKS ANTICS IN THE AIE MODE OF FLIGHT WHITE 

 EOOKS. 



THE city built by the rooks in the elms of the great pasture 

 field (the Warren, near Wick farmhouse) is divided into 

 two main parts ; the trees standing in two rows, separated 

 by several hundred yards of sward. But the inhabitants 

 appear to be all more or less related, for they travel 

 amicably in the same flock and pay the usual visit to the 

 trees at the same hour. Some scattered elms form a line 

 of communication between the chief quarters, and each 

 has one or more nests in it. Besides these, the oaks in 

 the hedgerows surrounding the field support a few nests, 

 grouped three or four in close neighbourhood. In some 

 trees near the distant ash-copse there are more nests, 

 whose owners probably sprang from the same stock, but 

 were exiled, or migrated, and do not hold much communion 

 with the capital. 



In early days men seem to have frequently dug their 

 entrenchments or planted their stockades on the summit 

 of hills. To the rooks their trees are their hills, giving 

 security from enemies. The wooden houses in the two 

 main streets are evidently of greater antiquity than those 

 erected in the outlying settlements. The latter are not 

 large or thick : they are clearly the work of one, or at 



