394 THE ROOK. 



Derbyshire, that was planted along one side of a valley, an oak-tree had sprung up about 

 half-way down the declivity, and, as is the custom with trees in such situations, had grown 

 inclining towards the somewhat abrupt angle formed by the shape of the ground on which 

 it stood. As there had been formerly many other trees around it, it had been drawn up 

 like a maypole, being long, slender, and swinging about with every breeze. The tree was 

 not more than forty feet high; but as it was bent in the middle and bowed over the valley, 

 its summit was nearly a hundred feet from the ground below. 



It was with the greatest difficulty that I reached the nest, for the tree yielded like a 

 carter's whip with my weight, although I could not approach nearer than arm's length 

 to the nest, and after three attempts I was finally baffled in my endeavour to obtain the eggs. 

 Although the top of the tree was then nearly level with the horizon, and swinging 

 about most alarmingly in the wind that rushed through the valley, not one egg was 

 thrown out of its place, and the nest was so much deeper than ordinary, that I could not 

 succeed in withdrawing the eggs from their cradle. It seems an easy matter to take eggs 

 out of a nest ; but if the reader will bear in mind that when the slender tree stem to 

 which one is clinging bends nearly double with one's weight, that the elasticity of 

 the wood dances one up and down through an arc of four or five feet, and that a strong 

 wind is at the same time acting on the foliage of the tree and swaying it from side to side, 

 and that there is a clear fall of some hundred feet below, he will comprehend that it 

 is not so simple a matter to spare a hand long enough to take an egg from a rather distant 

 spot, and to do so in so delicate a manner that the egg remains unbroken. 



The materials of which the Crow's nest is made are very various, but always consist 

 of a foundation of sticks, upon which the softer substances are laid. The interior of the 

 nest is made of grasses, fibrous roots, the hair of cows and horses, which the Crow mostly 

 obtains from trees and posts where the cattle are in the habit of rubbing themselves, 

 mosses, and wool. The eggs are extremely variable, or rather individual, in their markings 

 and even in their size, those in my own collection being so different from each other that 

 an inexperienced person would set them down as belonging to different species. The Crow 

 very seldom uses the same nest for a second breeding season, although it often repairs to 

 the same locality year after year. Once or twice it has been known to lay its eggs on the 

 same foundation as it had employed during the previous season, but in general it pulls the 

 former nest to pieces, and constructs a fresh one on its site. 



This bird is remarkable for its attachment to its mate and young, far surpassing the 

 fawn and turtle dove in matrimonial courtesy. 



The Somali Arabs bear a deadly hatred towards the Crow, and kill it whenever 

 they meet with it. The origin of their detestation is as follows : During the flight of 

 Mohammed from his enemies, he hid himself in a cave, where he was perceived by the Crow, 

 at that time a light-plumaged bird, who, when it saw the pursuers approach the spot, sat 

 over Mohammed's hiding-place, and screamed, "Ghar ! ghar !" i. e. "Cave ! cave!" so as 

 to indicate the place of concealment. His enemies, however, did not understand the 

 bird, and passed on, and Mohammed, when he came out of the cave, clothed the Crow in 

 perpetual black, and ordered it to cry " ghar" as long as Crows should live. When they 

 have killed a Crow, the Arabs remove the gall, employing it for the manufacture of colly- 

 rium, or dye for the eyelids. 



The colour of the Ci'ow is a uniform blue-black, like that of the raven, but varieties 

 are known in which the feathers have been pied or even cream-white. 



THE most familiar of all the British Corvidse is the common ROOK, a bird which has 

 attached itsolf to the habitations of mankind, and in course of time has partially 

 domesticated itself in his dominions. 



The Rook may claim the doubtful honour of having originated two of the most 

 pertinacioub and persistent ornithological controversies on record. The subject of the 

 first is its conduct towards man whether it is to be looked upon as a feathered benefactor 

 or must be ranked among the " vermin." This dispute has now been carried on for 

 many years, and finds as many and as eager advocates on both sides of the question 

 as on the day on which it was started. The second controversy is quite as fierce as the 



