230 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



to show how mischievous would be a general perse- 

 cution ending in the destruction of this bird: " In 

 one locality in an eastern county a large 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 

 congratulated 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 cause. 

 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 reduced 

 the insect pest, leading the farmers to acknowledge 

 the error into which they had fallen, and henceforth 

 to look upon the Rook as a friend instead of an 

 enemy." 



The young Rooks appear to be fed mostly with 

 insects : the gizzard of one I examined contained 

 hard skins of insects and legs and wings of beetles ; 

 it also contained a considerable number of stones, 



