200 ROOKS. 



clearing the soil of the noxious worms, particularly of one 

 called the pease -beetle (Bruckus pisi). For no sooner were 

 the birds destroyed, than the insects multiplied to such a 

 degree, as to cause the total loss of the grass in 1749, when 

 the colonists had to get their hay from Pennsylvania, and 

 even from Great Britain." 



We often hear persons congratulating themselves on a 

 deep snow, a hard frost, or dry weather, as the surest means 

 of destroying insects ; whereas it is just the reverse. A hard 

 frost, or a deep snow, or a dry summer, are the very best pro- 

 tection they can have, and for this reason : the Rooks and 

 other birds cannot reach that innumerable host which pass 

 the greatest part of their existence under-ground. In vain 

 the hungry Book, in a hard frost, looks over a fine fallow, or 

 a field of new-sown wheat. He may be seen sitting on a 

 bare bough, like Tantalus, in the midst of plenty beyond his 

 reach, with his feathers ruffled up, casting every now and then 

 an anxious glance over the frozen surface, beyond the power 

 of even his strong beak to penetrate. His situation is much 

 the same in dry Springs or Summers, when he may be seen 

 walking up and down by the sides of highways, picking up 

 what he can get. In the hot Summer of 1825, many of the 

 young broods of the season are reported to have been starved: 

 the mornings were without dew, and consequently few or no 

 earth-worms were to be obtained, and they were found dead 

 under the trees,* having expired on their roostings. It was 

 quite distressing, says an eye-witness, to hear the constant 

 clamour of the young for food. The old birds seemed to 

 suffer without complaint ; but the wants of their famishing 

 offspring were expressed by unceasing cries. Yet, amidst all 

 this distress, it was pleasing to observe the perseverance of 

 the old ones in the endeavour to relieve their perishing 

 families ; for many of them remained out, searching for food, 

 long after their accustomed roosting-time ; and then, adds this 

 interesting writer, " the Rook became a plunderer," and 

 dreadful havoc took place in the potato-fields, where whole 



* Journal of a Naturalist. 



