540 HOMES WITHOUT. HANDS. 



the returning sun spreads joy and consolation over the face of 

 nature, these congregated numbers are dissolved, and the individ- 

 uals retire in pairs to propagate their respective species. The 

 Book, however, remain's in society the year throughout. In flocks 

 it builds its nest, in flocks it seeks for food, and in flocks it re- 

 tires to roost. 



"About two miles to the eastward of this place are the woods 

 of Nostell Priory, where from time immemorial the Rooks have 

 retired to pass the night. I suspect, by the observations which 

 I have been able to make on the morning and evening transit of 

 these birds, that there is not another roosting-place for at least 

 thirty miles to the westward of Nostell Priory. Every morning, 

 from within a few days of the autumnal to about a week before 

 the vernal equinox, the Rooks, in congregated thousands upon 

 thousands, fly over the valley in a westerly direction, and return 

 in undiminished numbers to the nest an hour or so before the 

 night sets in. 



" In their morning passage some stop here ; others in other 

 favorite places, farther and farther on ; some repairing to . the 

 trees for pastime, some resorting to the fields for food, till the de- 

 clining sun warns those which have gone farthest that it is time 

 they should return. They rise in a mass, receiving additions to 

 their numbers from every intervening place, till they reach this 

 neighborhood in an amazing flock. Sometimes they pass on 

 without stopping, and are joined by those which have spent the 

 day here. At other times they make my park their place of 

 rendezvous, and cover the ground in vast profusion, or perch 

 upon the surrounding trees. After tarrying here for a certain 

 time, every Rook takes wing. They linger in the air for a while, 

 in slow revolving circles, and then they all proceed to Nostell 

 Priory, which is their last resting-place for the night. 



"In their morning and evening passage, the loftiness or lowli- 

 ness of their flight seems to be regulated by the state of the 

 weather. When it blows a hard gale of wind, they descend the 

 valley with astonishing rapidity, and just skim over the tops of 

 the intervening hills a few feet above the trees; but when the 

 sky is calm and clear, they pass through the heavens at a great 

 height, in regular and easy flight." 



This custom of the Rooks is the more curious because it is 

 hardly possible to conceive any roosting-place which would be 

 more acceptable to a sensible bird than the woods within the con- 



