March 



first attempt at housekeeping. But it is evident 

 from the stupid manner in which he perches, twig 

 in beak, beside his mate, that he is at a loss what to 

 do with the wonderful acquisition ; and as she appears 

 equally inept, they sit together, congratulating one 

 another, until it falls from his mouth. However, 

 neither Rome nor a bird's nest is built in a day, and 

 before they are many weeks older this inexperienced 

 young couple will probably have more than a nest 

 on their hands. 



Although part of the birds have returned to us, 

 a considerable number still continue to leave in the 

 evening for their winter sleeping quarters, which lie 

 to the west. Before the breaking up of TrafFord 

 Park by the cutting of the Ship Canal, they used to 

 fly northward to roost there during the winter 

 months. For how many years or, more probably, 

 centuries had the ancestors of these birds gone 

 backwards and forwards on this north-and-south 

 line between Stretford and that ancient estate ? 

 What must have been the consternation among 

 birds of such rigidly conservative habit when they 

 found their old roosting haunt invaded ! And how 

 did they fix upon their new one ? In short, who 

 leads among rooks ? For, a head of some sort 

 there certainly is. One may watch a field full of 

 rooks coming and going all day long, each bird at 

 its own prompting. Then suddenly, and apparently 

 at the instigation of one or two birds, the whole 

 field rises as if by a common understanding, and the 



81 G 



