372 BIRD LIFE AT BINGHAIVTS MELCOMBE 



of our parks or shrubberies, and then, and not 

 till then, say that you have fathomed his character. 

 Who would not like to overhear, if only he 

 could understand, the speeches for the prosecution 

 and the defence for, doubtless, some such there 

 are the summing-up of the judge, and the pro- 

 nouncing of the sentence, in the solemn Areopagus 

 of the rook nation ? I incline to think that it must 

 have been, not the exigencies of the rhyme alone, 

 but a sense of the inherent fitness of things it 

 must have been their practice of assembling in 

 these solemn convocations, their serious demeanour, 

 their looks of mellow wisdom, their "customary 

 suits of solemn black," combined, perhaps, with the 

 resemblance, presented by the queer white patches 

 of skin at the base of the bill and round the chin, 

 to the white tie and bands or " choker" of the 

 parson of old times, which determined the important 

 part assigned to the rook in the " lamentable 

 tragedy of the death and funeral of Cock 

 Robin " : 



" Who'll be the Parson ? 

 * I,' said the Rook, 

 ' With my little Book ; 

 I'll be the Parson.' " 



Rooks build their nests, by preference, on the 



