THE ROOK. 131 



Tarn O'Shanter unfortunately peeped into Kirk 

 Alloway. Foreigners tell us that on these nights 

 Englishmen are prone to use the knife, or a piece of 

 twisted hemp, to calm their agitated spirits. For 

 my own part, I must say that I have an insuperable 

 repugnance to such anodynes ; and, were a host of 

 blue devils, conjured up by November's fogs, just 

 now to assail me, I would prefer combating the 

 phantoms with the weapons of ornithology, rather 

 than run any risk of disturbing the economy of my 

 jugular vein, by a process productive of very un- 

 pleasant sensations, before it lulls one to rest. 



According to my promise, I will now pen down a 

 few remarks on the habits of the rook, which bird, 

 in good old sensible times, was styled frugilegus. It is 

 now pronounced to be pradatorius. Who knows but 

 that our Great Ones in Ornithology, may ultimately 

 determine to call it up to the house of hawks ? 



If this useful bird were not so closely allied to the 

 carrion crow in colour and in shape, we should see 

 it sent up to the tables of the rich, as often as we 

 see the pigeon. But prejudice forbids the appearance 

 of broiled rook in the lordly mansion. If we wish 

 to partake of it, we must repair to the cottage of the 

 lowly swain, or, here and there, to the hall of the 

 homely country squire, whose kitchen has never been 

 blessed by the presence of a first-rate cook, and 

 whose yearnings for a good and wholesome dish, are 

 not stifled by the fear of what a too highly polished 

 world will say. 



There is no wild bird in England so completely 

 gregarious as the rook ; or so regular in its daily 

 K 2 



