18 WILD LIFE IN THE TREE TOPS 



prevent the Rooks from returning to the same nesting-site in the following 

 year, and the possibility of Rooks becoming a serious nuisance to the agricul- 

 turist must not be lost sight of. 



Few birds are more wary. A flock of them feeding in a field will appear 

 to be so busily engaged as not to mark your passing ; but, stand for a moment 

 or raise your stick to your shoulder as you would a gun, and in a moment the 

 whole flock is on the wing with loud and angry remonstrance. 



This wariness perhaps not unmixed with curiosity accounts for the fact 

 that if a stoat be gambolling or hunting on the Rooks' feeding-ground, the 

 birds will collect in a rough circle around it, and spend a considerable time in 

 fluttering into the air, advancing a few yards towards the object of their appre- 

 hension or curiosity and retiring with spasmodic leapings and flutterings 

 if it should chance to advance towards them. 



This characteristic is sometimes taken advantage of by those who, for 

 some reason or other, wish to rid the district of some of its Rooks. Instead 

 of a stoat, a tame ferret is used as a decoy, and the little animal, tethered to a 

 spot frequented by Rooks, seldom fails to attract the first flock that chances 

 to be passing. The Rooks turn in their flight, and settling in the same manner 

 as when a stoat is espied, form an easy mark for the gunner who is meanwhile 

 lying in wait. 



A large bird of prey might and has been utilized to the same purpose 

 but in this case there is no question as to why the Rooks are attracted. They 

 cordially detest for instance an Eagle- Owl or a Buzzard, and vent their 

 feelings by ' mobbing ' the intruder ; that is by making a series of sharp swoops 

 at his head ! It is indeed an extraordinary sight to see a flock of Rooks stoop- 

 ing, one after another, at their ofttimes quite imaginary enemy. 



Should a modest Kestrel approach the Rookery too closely he will be 

 quickly driven off by the Rooks ; who, issuing forth in a crowd, will so harry 

 the quite innocent little hawk as to prompt him to put on his best pace and 

 quit the district without delay. 



Even the lordly Peregrine is sometimes thus ignominiously pursued by 

 the vulgar Rook and the question at once arises as to how the Rooks can 

 possibly tell that, at the moment, the noble Falcon is not ' out for blood ' ; 

 for in the ordinary course of things, to merely catch sight of a Peregrine creates 

 such feelings of dread within the Rook's breast as to send him flying headlong 

 to the nearest cover. 



Apropos of this point the following account may be of interest to the readers 

 of these lines. 



One stormy April evening, whilst watching with a pair of glasses the 

 goings on in a Rookery in the West of England, the writer was asked by a 

 mounted passer-by if a Peregrine had been seen. A hawking party was out, 

 and following a long, high flight, one of the Falcons in pursuit of a strong Rook 



