74 LIFE AND SPORT IN HAMPSHIRE 



that might be near, in the common " caw, caw " or 

 " quarr, quarr " ; this he repeated at intervals, glancing 

 round inquiringly the while as if for companions. 

 Between the calls, he gently warbled. More than 

 a century ago one of White's brothers kept a diary 

 of domestic events and weather and wild life at his 

 village, Fifield ; the diary has not been published, and 

 is now out of the country, but I recall a few passages 

 in it, one describing the ravens in the great wood 

 at Abbots Ann as " a- warbling " in spring. This word 

 would well suit the rook in the beech tree. His was 

 a song full of the low, complacent sounds which one 

 associates with the word warble. 



It was as if he sang just to please himself. It 

 reminded one, in its lowness, though in nought else, 

 of the choice undersong of some acknowledged warbler, 

 blackcap, or lesser whitethroat. The rook sang scarcely 

 louder than they. You would not call his notes 

 melodious; some were quite like the little clucks of a 

 farmyard hen when she is scratching the ground for 

 food ; others sounded as if he were clearing his throat, 

 and were rather hoarse. He quorked ; he quarred in 

 undertones ; gurgled softly ; and all the while his body 

 was gently moving, somewhat as a starling's does in 

 song. But his tail moved more; now and then it 

 would be pushed upwards, as high as it would go 

 without disturbing his equilibrium, and slightly opened 

 out, fan-like. 



The carrion crow, like the rook, cuts a strange 



