166 SPRING. 



the tree than the nest, too, .they have a sort of practi- 

 cal demonstration that that shall not be broken down 

 by its own weight. We never, indeed, knew of the 

 fall of a rook's nest in calm weather, nor have we ever 

 seen the twigs to which it was attached very much 

 bent by its pressure. When, however, a violent gale 

 arises, great havoc is sometimes committed ; nests, eggs, 

 callow young, and even old ones, are cast to the earth 

 in one general ruin. The females of all the crow tribe 

 are very close sitters, and they are very formidable 

 against any intruders. The ramified twigs over the nest 

 prevent any descent upon the rook from above ; and as 

 birds of prey are less accustomed to wing their way 

 among branches, the crow sits secure from all but the 

 casualties of the atmosphere and the attacks of man. 

 The nest of the crow never, to our observation, falls to 

 the ground entire, unless when the part of the tree in 

 which it is placed is torn off; and when that happens 

 during the period of incubation, the dam is very often 

 killed by the fall, which verifies in the case of the 

 rook, the instance stated by White of the raven being 

 killed by the falling of the tree on which she had 

 built for years. 



Those cawings with which a rookery resounds, and 

 which have the singular quality of producing music 

 that is by no means disagreeable, from a confusion of 

 sounds, are the blended notes of complaint, and affec- 

 tion, and gratitude, without any admixture of mere 

 love-song. The courtships take place in the fields, 

 when the nest is beginning to be built, or rather before 

 it has been begun; and, before the eggs begin to be 

 deposited, the female becomes domestic, and perches 



