CHRISTMAS GATHERINGS 61 



some birds on which I got the glasses fixed, whilst 

 watching, one Christmas, a small rookery, in some 

 elms near the house. It is always stated that rooks 

 visit their nests, during the winter, in order to repair 

 them. The following slight but accurate account 

 of what the birds really do during these visits, is 

 to be read in connection with that statement, which, 

 as it appears to me, is either inaccurate, or, at 

 least, not sufficiently full. Towards 3, then, as 

 I have it, like Mr. Justice Stareleigh, in my notes, 

 the rooks flew in, and of these a certain number 

 settled in the largest elm of the group. This 

 contained, besides other nests, two, if not more, 

 that were built close against each other, making 

 one great mass of sticks. One rook perched upon 

 the topmost of these nests, whilst another sat in 

 the lower one. The standing rook kept uttering 

 deep caws, and, at each caw, he made a sudden dip 

 forward, with his head and whole body. At the 

 same time he shot up and spread open the feathers 

 of his tail, which he also arched, becoming, thus, a 

 much finer figure of a bird. The action seemed to 

 express sexual emotion, with concomitant bellicosity, 

 and the latter element was soon manifested in a 

 spirited attack upon the poor sitting rook, who was, 

 then and there, turned out of the nest. Shortly 

 afterwards, a pair of rooks peaceably occupied this 

 same lower nest, and continued there for some time. 

 One of them sat in it, and, looking long and steadily 

 through the glasses, I could see the tail of this bird 

 thrown, at short intervals, spasmodically upwards. 

 Then, as the raised and spread feathers were folded 

 and lowered, the anal portion of the body was 



