of these birds into our fields, but at the present there 

 are scarcely any of them to be seen. 



As soon as the first root crops are up, missel- 

 thrushes band together on the broken earth, and but 

 for their grating cry, one could almost believe that 

 the big elegant birds rising in a body to perch on 

 the high trees at the field side were fieldfares come 

 south out of season. 



The rooks there are now something like three 

 hundred birds in our rookery are reverting to the 

 closer social habits which the breeding season had 

 to some extent relaxed. They still sleep in their 

 nesting trees, and at close of day come pouring in 

 on a common line in eager flight, flinging themselves 

 down upon arriving with excited antics ere they 

 settle. But they are soon up again as at some 

 recognized signal, this time to sweep round above 

 the tall trees of the rookery in a kind of aerial 

 march, solemn, ordered, as in some set rite, so that 

 it has not seemed inappropriate to regard it as the 

 " rooks' vespers." There are two great companies. 

 Now they combine and advance together, the edges 

 of their wings thin streaks upon the sky ; at the 

 boundary of the rookery they divide, and, as they 

 wheel with uniformly tilted wings, one company to 

 the right and the other to the left, hundreds of black 

 silhouettes flash out for a moment, then fade as the 

 birds pursue their counter-flight, to join up at the 

 other end of the rookery and advance again. I have 

 been disposed at times to wonder what was the 



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