THE ROOK. 539 



Rook generally carrying up the dead branches that have been 

 blown down by the winds of the preceding winter. These are 

 usually interlaced among the spreading branches of a convenient 

 spray, and thus form a rude basket-work, in which will lie the 

 softer materials on which the eggs and young are to repose. 

 The lining is composed almost entirely of long and delicate 

 fibrous roots, which are intertwined, so as to make an interior 

 basket very similar in general construction to the twig basket of 

 the exterior, and being so independent of it that, with a little 

 care, it can be lifted out entire. 



On this soft bed are laid the eggs, which are four or five in 

 number, and are rather variable in color, the usual tint being 

 greenish -gray, largely spotted, mottled, and splashed with dark 

 brown, in which a shade of green is visible. They vary in size 

 as well as in hue, and from the same nest I have taken eggs of so 

 different an aspect that a casual observer would probably think 

 them to be the production of distinct birds. 



The principal labors of nest-building fall on the young birds, 

 inasmuch as the elders mostly return to the same domicile every 

 successive season, and are seldom obliged to make an entirely 

 new nest. The young builders are sometimes aggrieved at this 

 distribution of labor, and try to equalize it by helping themselves 

 to the sticks belonging to other proprietors. The general com- 

 munity, however, never suffer theft to be perpetrated, and are 

 sure, in such a case, to scatter the ill-gotten materials, and force 

 the dishonest birds to begin their labors anew. 



When the young are launched upon the world and able to get 

 their own living, the nest is used no more, but is abandoned both 

 by parents and young, not to be again used until repaired in the 

 spring of the following year. It is a curious point in the econo- 

 my of the Rook, that when it has abandoned its temporary home, 

 it does not choose to repose among the trees on which the nest 

 was made. Mr. Waterton, who possesses invaluable opportuni- 

 ties for studying the habits of this bird, and has developed them 

 to the utmost, makes the following remarks upon the roosting of 

 this bird : 



" There is no wild bird in England so completely gregarious 

 as the Rook, or so regular in its daily movements. The ring- 

 doves will assemble in countless multitudes, the finches will unite 

 in vast assemblies, and water-fowl will flock in thousands to the 

 protected lakes during the weary months of winter, but when 



