ROOKS AND THEIR RELATIVES 127 



spread-eagled out on a stick for his companions' in- 

 spection, the business was settled ; not a single rook 

 has been near the place from that time. I have often 

 proved the fact that shooting some does not affect the 

 rest in the least ; but trapping one upsets the whole 

 rookery for a long time. When that calamity has 

 once taken place it is put down in their note-book, 

 and no matter what may be the attractions of the 

 locality, it is shunned with the greatest caution. 



Unlike the ravens, the rooks are supposed by 

 many to bring peace and prosperity about a place of 

 abode. It is easy to understand the reasons for this 

 idea. When Bishop Selwyn came from the Anti- 

 podes to succeed Bishop Lonsdale in the diocese of 

 Lichfield, he did not choose to make his home at the 

 palace, two miles away from the centre of his work, 

 but preferred to return to the large residence in the 

 Close. Bishop's Court in Auckland had always been 

 the home of the Anglican missionaries when in town, 

 and the bishop wished his English clergy to have the 

 same feeling about his house in Lichfield. For years 

 the rooks had forsaken the fine old elms which 

 partially surround the Close. The year the old 

 house was again inhabited by that true shepherd of 

 his flock, the rooks returned to remain, and their 

 coming back was commemorated in a very pleasant 



