CROWS. 61 



meadow land, which latter they " scarify " after a day or 

 two's work as though a patent harrow had been once or 

 twice over it. Bad as this looks, it hides a good purpose. 

 The rook does not feed on grass, nor has he time for 

 mischief pure and simple. He has been indulging in wire- 

 worm and cockchafer grub dainties of which he is very 

 fond and the amount of these wretched, ruinous grubs a 

 flock will make away with in a morning's campaign is 

 simply astonishing. Let the farmer run his light roller 

 over the well-probed leas and bless the rooks, they are not 

 the least useful of his feathered allies. Perhaps the game- 

 keeper can hardly be invited to say so much. Here, for 

 instance, is a sad story from a writer in The Field. 



" My keeper one morning observed about half a dozen 

 rooks engaged amongst the coops of young pheasants, and, 

 suspecting their object, drove them off. The next morning, 

 having fed and watered the young birds, he went to his 

 cottage, and, looking out about six o'clock, saw a strong 

 detachment of rooks from a neighbouring colony in great 

 excitement amongst the pens. He ran down, a distance of 

 two hundred yards, as fast as possible, but before he arrived 

 they succeeded in killing, and for the most part carrying off, 

 from forty to fifty birds, two or three weeks old. As he 

 came amongst them they flew up in all directions, their 

 beaks full of the spoil. The dead birds not carried away 

 had all of their heads pulled off, and most of their legs and 

 wings torn from the body. I have long known that rooks 

 destroy partridges' nests and eat the eggs when short of 

 other food, but have never known a raid of this description. 

 I attribute it to the excessive drought, which has so starved 

 the birds by depriving them of their natural insect food that 

 that they are driven to depredation. It will be necessary to 

 be on guard for some time ; bad habits once acquired (as 

 with man-eating tigers) may last even more than one season. 

 Probably the half dozen rooks first seen amongst the coops 

 tasted two or three, and finding them eatable, brought their 



