ABOUT THE JACKDAW 



By BENJAMIN HANLEY 

 With a Photograph by the Author 



IX the flocks of rooks flying over- of rubbish may be collected. The eggs, 



head, particularly during the winter sea green with many black spots, are 



months, numbers of smaller birds usually five in number. The 3'oung make 



will be noticed which have a much interesting pets, and if taken before they 



quicker flight than the rooks, and every leave the nest become very tame, so 



now and again 

 they give vent 

 to a cry some- 

 thing like 

 "chack-chack" 

 or" jack-jack." 

 These are 

 Jackdaws, 

 which consort 

 a great deal 

 with rooks at 

 their feeding 

 grounds. When 

 close at hand 

 it will be seen 

 that there are 

 many points 

 of difference 

 apart from 

 size ; the Jack- 

 daw has the 

 face fully fea- 

 thered and a 

 much shc^rter 

 beak. T h e 

 crown is deep 

 velvety black, and in the adult the neck 

 is grey and the eye pearly white ; these 

 contrast with the otherwise dull black 

 plumage. 



Like the rook, the Jackdaw builds a 

 nest of sticks, but unlike that bird it is 

 placed out of sight in the hollow branch 

 of some tree, an old church tower, or 

 hole in the side of a cliff. 



If undisturbed the birds return year 

 by year to the same nesting haunt, and 

 each season add considerably to the 

 materials used for nest building, so that 

 in the course of time almost a cartload 



THE JACKDAW 



that there is 

 no need to 

 pinion their 

 wings or con- 

 fine them in 

 any way. It 

 should be 

 added, how- 

 e\-er, that they 

 learn many 

 mischievous 

 tricks, until in 

 some cases the 

 owner is either 

 obliged to give 

 them away or 

 keep them in 

 captivity. 



I know of 

 one case where 

 the bird had 

 a fondness for 

 collecting and 

 hitling bright 

 things in the 

 thatch of a 

 cottage. This was tolerated so long as it 

 took nothing of greater value than safety 

 pins or such-like objects, but when it 

 began to make off with silver coins, and 

 not confine its depredations to its owner's 

 })roperty, some restraint had to be put 

 upon it. 



They learn to repeat certain words 

 quite easily. At one time a belief was 

 prevalent that to make them talk pioperly 

 the tongue should be cut with the edge 

 of a sixpence. Such a cruel method is, 

 of course, absolutely useless as far as 

 assisting the bird to talk is concerned. 



880 



