22O Wild Life in a Southern Cozinty 



birds, scarcely a rook-shooting ever goes by without some 

 one claiming to have made a tremendous long shot, which 

 is quite possible, as it does not require many pellets or 

 much force behind them. 



On dropping a rook, probably at some distance from 

 the rookery, where the men are whose duty it is to collect 

 the slain, beware of carrying the bird ; let him lie, or at 

 most throw him upon a bramble bush in a conspicuous 

 spot till a boy comes round. Rooks are perfectly infested 

 with vermin, which in a few minutes will pass up their 

 legs on to your hand, and cause an unpleasant irritation, 

 though it is only temporary for the insects cannot exist 

 long away from the bird. 



The young birds are occasionally stolen from the 

 nests, notwithstanding the difficulty of access. Young 

 labourers will climb the trees, though so large that they 

 can scarcely grasp the trunk, and with few branches, and 

 those small for some height ; for elms are often stripped 

 up the trunk to make the timber grow straight and free 

 from the great branches called ' limbs.' Even when the 

 marauder is in the tree he has some difficulty in getting 

 at the nests, which are placed where the boughs diminish 

 in size. Climbing-irons used to be sometimes employed 

 for the purpose. As elm-trees are so conspicuous, these 

 thieving practices cannot well be carried on while it is 

 light. So the rook-poachers go up the trees in the dead 

 of night ; and as the old rooks would make a tremendous 

 noise and so attract attention, they carry a lantern with 

 them, the light from which silences the birds. So long as 

 they can see a light they will not caw. 



The time selected to rob a rookery is generally just 

 before the date fixed for the shooting, because the young 

 birds are of little use for cooking till ready to fly. 



