JACKDAWS. 205 



the roots, for the purpose of getting at the grubs, already 

 alluded to in our description of Eooks. The way they set 

 about it was this : they would walk quietly over the surface, 

 every now and then turning their head, with the ear towards 

 the ground, listening attentively in the most significant man- 

 ner. Sometimes they appeared to listen in vain, and then 

 walked on, till at length, instead of moving from the spot, 

 they fell to picking a hole, as fast as their heads could nod, 

 just like the Thrushes before mentioned; and in the end, 

 almost always succeeded in extracting a few large grubs, 

 with which, as soon as the fortunate finder had secured one, 

 he hopped off to enjoy his delicate morsel, followed and jostled 

 by the rest, who had been less successful in their search ; 

 adding another proof of the utility of birds in ridding us from 

 injurious insects, and all in favour of the Rook family. An 

 accident which befel one of these birds, afforded an inter- 

 esting instance of the efforts of nature to repair injury and 

 mutilation. It was standing on a window-sill, and had the 

 greater part of its beak crushed off, by the sudden shutting 

 of the window. The person who fed them nursed it with the 

 greatest care, and kept it alive; when the wound began to heal, 

 it was turned out amongst its companions, by whom it was 

 as regularly fed, as if they had been made to understand that 

 it could not feed itself; but what was still more extraor- 

 dinary, soon afterwards, flights of wild ones, which usually 

 remained in their lonely haunts, upon a neighbouring rocky 

 mountain, came down to the garden, and were constantly 

 hovering over their disabled and mutilated companion, as if 

 to marvel at its strange appearance. As the wound healed, 

 the upper part of the bill, two-thirds of which, at least, 

 had been severed, began to grow, and in a few months 

 had made considerable progress, with every prospect of its 

 finally assuming its original formation. In every part of 

 the world, the character of the Jackdaw tribe seems to be 

 the same. 



Thus, in the island of Ceylon, in India, these birds are ex- 

 tremely impudent and troublesome; and it is found very difficult ' 

 to exclude them from the houses, which on account of the heat, 



