October 



and he applies it even in the case of his own young. 

 The latter naturally look upon the spot where they 

 were hatched as " their place," and, being chips of 

 the old block, when their sire returns from retirement 

 after the moult, they resent even to the point of 

 fighting his determination to turn them adrift in the 

 world to fend for themselves. But in the end they 

 generally have to go ; and it is a moot question what 

 becomes of these young birds. Do they migrate ? 

 it is asked. Up to the present it would appear that 

 only the robins themselves are in a position to give 

 the answer. 



The rooks continued in their old feeding fields, 

 the only difference being that jackdaws and starlings 

 now packed with them. When roused, the jackdaws 

 fly with the rooks ; but the starlings fly apart. The 

 jackdaws also frequent the rookery. Magpies, at 

 times, have the audacity to use the avenue of trees, 

 forming the rookery as a perching place. They are 

 generally chased out by the rooks, and I have 

 witnessed several stand-up fights in the fields between 

 Mag and the rooks. The former at such times 

 displays a pluck for which I should scarcely have 

 given her credit, for every hand or claw is against 

 her, even that of the crow kind, crow as she is. 



An odd snipe or two used to get up occasion- 

 ally from the reeds in ditch or brook, and parties of 

 black-headed and herring gulls to come up the river 

 to the water meadows. 



Of the solitary sort, the kestrel beat up and down 



39 



