A BOOM IN ANIMAL LIFE 281 



owls, are nearly extinct ; but these large hawks, 

 with the smaller sea-gulls, owls, and kestrels, are 

 scheduled as deserving complete preservation, being 

 harmless to sheep, crops and game. 



Ravens, hoodie-crows, great black-backed gulls, 

 and foxes have always had an evil reputation among 

 shepherds. Weakly Jambs dropped among the hills 

 suffer wherever any of their species are found. But 

 strange to say, the rook is now an object of suspicion, 

 not only to game preservers, but to farmers on the 

 Border. It was matter of general complaint in the 

 evidence, that the rook has changed its habits, con- 

 currently with the appearance of the voles, and 

 become almost as disreputable a bird as the hoodie- 

 crow. ' It is not madness,' said Mr Bumble, account- 

 ing for the audacity of Oliver Twist, ' it's meat' 

 ' So,' within the last ten years that is since their 

 dish of voles became habitual the rooks in the 

 district ' have developed marked carnivorous habits ; 

 taking eggs, young birds, young poultry, hares and 

 rabbits, and so forth, to an extent which they never 

 did before.' Consequently, though the rook is by far 

 the most deadly enemy to the voles, digging out 

 their nests and eating their young by thousands, 

 when they visit the hills, the forays on game and 

 poultry in the low ground have led to their whole- 

 sale destruction. Perhaps the most remarkable evi- 



