13 THE ROOK. 



movements. The ringdoves will assemble in count- 

 less multitudes, the finches will unite in vast as- 

 semblies, and waterfowl will flock in thousands to 

 the protected lake, during the dreary months of 

 winter : but, when the returning sun spreads joy and 

 consolation over the face of nature, their congregated 

 numbers are dissolved, and the individuals retire in 

 pairs to propagate their respective species. The 

 rook, however, remains in society the year throughout. 

 In flocks it builds its nest, in flocks it seeks for food, 

 and in flocks it retires to roost. 



About two miles to the eastward of this place are 

 the woods of Nostell Priory, where, from time im- 

 memorial, the rooks have retired to pass the night. 

 I suspect, by the observations which I have been 

 able to make on the morning and evening transit of 

 these birds, that there is not another roosting-place 

 for, at least, thirty miles to the westward of Nostell 

 Priory. Every morning, from within a few days of 

 the autumnal, to about a week before the vernal 

 equinox, the rooks, in congregated thousands upon 

 thousands, fly over this valley in a westerly direction, 

 and return, in undiminished numbers, to the east, an 

 hour or so before the night sets in. In their 

 morning passage, some stop here; others, in other 

 favourite places, farther and farther on ; now re- 

 pairing to the trees for pastime, now resorting to the 

 fields for food, till the declining sun warns those 

 which have gone farthest to the westward that it is 

 time they should return. They rise in a mass, re- 

 ceiving additions to their numbers from every inter- 

 vening place, till they reach this neighbourhood in 



