IKBS. lo7 



his nest is coiniuoti enough in trees in Ireland, Tlie jackdavv 

 is black, like all the former, but ash. coloured on the breast and 

 belly. He is not above the size oC a pigeon. He is docile and 

 loquacious. His head is large tor the size of his body, which, 



were scenes of daily restlessness and lament Vet, amid nil tliis distress, it 

 w;is pleasing to observe the perseveranoc of the old birds in the endeavour 

 to relieve their famishing families, as many of them remained out searchiiijf 

 for food quite in tlie dusk, and returning to their roosts long after the usual 

 period for retiring. In tliis extremity it becomes a plunderer, to which by 

 inclination it is nut much addicted, and resorts to our newly-set potato 

 fields, digging out the cuttings. Ranks are seen sadly defective, the result 

 of its labours, I feai' ; and tlie request of my neighbours now and then for a 

 bird from my rookery, to liang up in terrorem in their fields, is confirmatory 

 of its bad n;une. In autumn a ripe pear, or a walnut, becomes an irresisti- 

 ble temptation, and it will occasionally obtain a good share of these fruits. 

 In hard frost it is pinclied again, visits for food the banks of streams, and in 

 conjunction witli its congener, the " villiiin crow," becomes a wayfaring 

 bird, and " seeks a dole from every passing steed."* Its life, however, is 

 not always dark and sombro ; it has its periods of festivity also. Wlien tlie 

 waters retire from meadows and low lands, where they have remained any 

 time, a luxurious banquet is provided for this corvus, in the multitude of 

 worms wliich it fiuds drowned on tliem. But its jubilee is the season of tKs 

 cockchafter {melolantha vulgaris), uhcn e^ery little copse, every oak, be. 

 comes animated with it and all its noisy, joyful family feeding and scramlj. 

 ling for tlie insect food. The power or faculty, be it by the scent, or by 

 other means, that rooks possess of discovering their food, is very remarli. 

 able. I have often observed them alight on a pasture of uniform verdiu-e, 

 and exhibiting no sensible appearance of withering or decay, and immedi- 

 ately commence stocking up the ground. Upon investigating the object of 

 their operations, 1 have found many heads of plantains, the little autumnal 

 dandelions, and other plants, drawn out of the ground and scattered about, 

 their roots having been eaten off by a grub, leaving only a crown of loaves 

 upon the surface. Tliis grub beneath, in the eartli, the rooks had detected 

 in their fiight, and descended to feed on it, first pulling up the i)hviit which 

 concealed it, and then drawing the larva? from their holes. I3y ^vhut inti- 

 mation this bird had discovered its hidden food we are at a loss to conjec- 

 ture ; but the rook has always been supposed to scent matters with great 

 discrimination. 



It is but simple justice to these often-censiu'ed birds, to mention the ser- 

 vice that tliey at times perform for us in our pasture lands. There is no 

 plant that I endeavour to root out w iih more persistency in these places 

 than the turfy hair-grass {aira ccespitosa). It abounds in all the colder parts 

 of our grass lands, increasing greatly when undistiubed, and, worthless it- 

 self, overpowers its more valuable neighbours. The larger turfs we pretty 



* During the unusually severe winter of 1829-30, our rooks became certainly **corn-eaiers *• 

 the pround was bound down by the frost, and their favourite food hidden by the bnow. They 

 fixed themselves, by do7.ens. on the oat-ricks out in the fields - and the late sown, just ger- 

 minating wheat was dug up from the soil to a very injurious extent, by our half-fainiaheti 

 Lirds ; but they appeared to return to their common food upon the rclentirK of the fVosu 



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