PERCHING BIRDS. 135 



rookery was destroyed under the belief of the farmers 

 that its inhabitants were hostile to their interests, and 

 consumed a large quantity of corn. But mark the 

 result. Two years passed away, and the farmers con- 

 gratulated themselves on being rid of their winged foes, 

 little thinking that they had other foes in their place 

 whose approach was more difficult to detect. In the 

 second year many fields of wheat suffered from wire- 

 worm ; but in the third their ravages had become so 

 general throughout the district as to occasion serious 

 alarm. Little could be done to suppress their numbers 

 until the rooks were again thought of, and the evil was 

 traced to its true source. The rookery was permitted to 

 be re-established by the return of many who had escaped 

 the massacre, and who still cherished a partiality for 

 their native trees, but , who had hitherto been continually 

 driven off. Their rapidly increasing numbers soon re- 

 duced the insect pest, leading the farmers to acknow- 

 ledge the error into which they had fallen, and henceforth 

 to look upon the rook as a friend instead of an enemy. 



When rooks are feeding they always station several of 

 their number as sentinels, and very faithful they are in 

 sounding the alarm on the approach of a foe ; they are 

 not only vigilant in their watch, but evince a large 

 amount of sagacity, an amusing instance of which was 

 communicated to me by a friend on whose statement I 

 can rely, and who witnessed the occurrence. 



A very large field had been sown with wheat, and in 

 the centre a little hut had been erected to shelter the 

 boy who had to tend the field, and to enable him to 

 reach all parts of it. A gentleman who wished to obtain 

 a few birds to hang up in his own fields thought this 

 would be a good opportunity of procuring them, for they 



