54 BIRD LIFE IN ENGLAND. 



But where some subtle auguries of inconvenience, of which 

 we bipeds cannot fathom the origin, do not frighten them 

 off, they are very tenacious of their homes. All through 

 the winter of their discontent, when the early barley is as 

 snug under the frost-hardened ground as gold in a usurer's 

 chest, and grubs of every kind are at a premium, they 

 keep an eye upon the wigwams that swing in the wind 

 over the bare avenue, and a little later on, when the elms are 

 thick with their unacknowledged copper- tinted inflorescence, 

 they hold a curious festival in the tops perhaps an "at 

 home," suggested by matronly forethought, " to bring the 

 young people together," when the whole clan reassembles 

 for a day or two, and " small and earlies " are held with 

 vivacity and success. Then nests are overhauled and even 

 added to a spectacle that prompts the wandering stranger 

 to write to his favourite paper, pointing out that the winter 

 must surely be one of the mildest on record. But those who 

 live among rooks know that nothing comes then of this 

 freak. In April they set to work in earnest, industry and 

 jealousy reigning supreme in the colony ; faggot upon faggot 

 of sticks is fetched and crossed over last year's foundations, 

 tufts of wool and the like are gleaned from sheep-walks and 

 pastures; and the last touch is put to the structure by an 

 egg three or four perhaps no doubt in the opinion of each 

 enamoured couple the most delightfully shaped, the most 

 delicately blue-tinted, and the most artistically mottled of 

 any in the park. 



But we have almost forgot to shoot our "branchers" in 

 the interest of the steps leading to their hatching. The 

 rook battue is the most popular form of this sport. The 

 squire asks his friends down to the number of a dozen or 

 so, according to the number of trees and nests, and for 

 a day, or perhaps two days, the fun is fast and furious. The 

 happy time to hit upon is just when the " squatters " are 

 venturing upon their trial flights. Were they younger they 

 might keep to their nests, where it is barbarism to shoot 



