Rooks and Starlings 195 



fixed upon beforehand, since he glided straight to it, and 

 pitched up into the tree, from the cover of the brushwood 

 below, with the same suddenness that characterised all his 

 movements. Settling directly on the chosen branch, gener- 

 ally against the trunk of a not very thick tree, he became at 

 once as motionless as a statue, unless his suspicions were 

 aroused, when he instantly vanished in the same shadowy 

 fashion in which he had come. When alone, I witnessed 

 his arrival more than once ; but though the keeper several 

 times lay in wait for him, I do not think so much as a 

 single cartridge was ever expended upon him. 



The Rooks and Daws flocked together as is their wont, 

 but one tree-top was generally exclusively occupied by one 

 species, the adjoining one, perhaps, by the other ; the trees 

 most favoured being thin larches, considerably below the 

 level of the adjacent oaks. Most of the Jackdaws slept in 

 pairs, often sitting side by side touching one another. 

 When, disturbed by an occasional shot, they and the Rooks 

 had been kept out of their favourite trees till darkness had 

 almost, or quite set in, they assembled in noisy crowds in 

 adjoining parts of the wood, or circled about overhead, until 

 it was too dark to see them, and then came pouring into 

 their accustomed places in the most headlong manner, 

 fluttering against the invisible branches in a way that showed 

 a determination to reach home for the night in spite of all 

 risks. On one such occasion, when they had settled to wait 

 in a field adjoining the road leading from the wood, and 

 rose in a black mass as the keeper passed, a double shot was 

 fired " into the brown of them," and next morning fourteen 

 or fifteen dead Daws, besides several Rooks, were picked 

 up. By an unlucky accident for them, the Jackdaws had 

 evidently occupied that portion of the flock in which the 

 shots had taken effect. 



Pheasants do not seem to mind the near company of 

 Rooks, often exhibiting an apparent preference for roosting 

 in a rookery, but they will not put up with the intolerable 

 mess made by a crowd of Starlings ; nor can one wonder at 

 it. Our olfactory organs are not slow in apprising us of 

 the fact that a wood is occupied by Rooks, and Daws leave 



