ROOKS. 201 



lines were afterwards seen broken up, in consequence of the 

 visits of the suffering Rooks. 



We have before noticed the instinctive sagacity shown by 

 Rooks, Jays, &c., in avoiding the approach of sportsmen, or 

 other suspicious characters; and it would appear that they 

 can, with equal discrimination, discover and attach themselves 

 to friends. A clergyman, who had a small rookery near his 

 house, assured us, that when he walked near or under the 

 trees, they exhibited no signs of alarm ; but when a stranger 

 approached, they were evidently uneasy, and manifested, by 

 their loud cawings and movements, their wish for his de- 

 parture. The following anecdote is a still more convincing 

 proof of this instinctive faculty. 



A farmer rented a farm in the county of Essex some years 

 ago, where he had not resided long, before a number of Rooks 

 came and built their nests upon the trees immediately sur- 

 rounding the premises, and multiplied so much in the course 

 of three or four years, as to form a considerable rookery, 

 which he much prized. About this time, however, he was 

 induced to take a larger farm, which obliged him to change 

 his residence and forsake his Rooks ; but, to his great surprise 

 and pleasure, the whole rookery manifested such an attach- 

 ment towards him, as led them to desert their former habita- 

 tion, and accompany him to his new abode, which was about 

 three-quarters of a mile off, and there they have continued 

 to nourish ever since. It should be added, that this person 

 was strongly attached to all animals whatsoever, and that he 

 always experiences a striking return of affection even from the 

 least docile of them. 



Could we dive into all the mysteries of a rookery, a page 

 in the book of nature would be opened, filled with much that 

 " man's philosophy hath never dreamed of." Without any 

 assignable cause, a party will secede from an old-established 

 rookery and form a new one. A case of this sort occurred 

 about ten years ago, in the parish of Alderley, in Cheshire. 

 Seven pair of Rooks, supposed to have come from an old 

 rookery about two miles distant, where an extent of wood 

 admitted of unlimited accommodation, took up their residence 



