ROOKS LAPWINGS. 123 



discerning scent than their attendants, and can lead them to 

 spots more productive of food ? Anatomists say that rooks, 

 by reason of two large nerves which run down between the 

 eyes into the upper mandible, have a more delicate feeling in 

 their beaks than other round-billed birds, and can grope for 

 their meat when out of sight. Perhaps, then, their associates 

 attend them on the motive of interest, as greyhounds wait on the 

 motions of their finders, and as lions are said to do on the yelp- 

 ings of jackals. Lapwings and starlings sometimes associate.* 



dandelions, and other plants, drawn out of the "ground and scattered about, 

 their roots having been eaten off by a grub, leaving only a crown of leaves 

 upon the surface. This grub beneath, in the earth, the rooks had detected 

 in their flight, and descended to feed on it, first pulling up the plant 

 which concealed it, and then drawing the larvae from their holes. " 



A correspondent, in the Magazine of Natural History, proves that 

 the rook is occasionally a predatory bird. He says, " As I was passing 

 through Chandos Street, Cavendish Square, London, soon after six 

 o'clock this morning, my attention was attracted to a rook flying low, 

 near the walls of some out-buildings, in which were many holes occupied 

 by sparrows' nests. He directed his flight to one of these holes, into 

 which he thrust himself as far as possible. It was evident that he was 

 attempting to reach something with his bill ; but apparently he did not 

 succeed, for he shortly withdrew himself from this hole, and flew to 

 another, into which he intruded himself in the same manner. From 

 this second hole he retired almost immediately, bearing in his beak one 

 of the callow brood. He flew with his spoil to a high chimney at the 

 corner house, followed for a short distance by ten or twelve sparrows, 

 clamouring loudly at such an atrocious robbery ; and one sparrow, 

 probably the parent, ventured to pursue even to the chimney-top, as if 

 determined to assail the fell destroyer ; but both the rook and the sparrow 

 quickly disappeared behind the chimney-pot, and prevented my farther 

 observation. " 



Colonel Montagu records an instance of great sagacity in rooks. He 

 noticed two of them by the sea shore, after having satisfied the calls of 

 hunger, busy in removing small fish beyond the flux of the tide, and 

 depositing them just above high water mark under the broken rocks. ED. 



* Lapwings are invariably gregarious, assembling in very large flocks 

 in the autumn. At this time they are esteemed excellent food. 



The starlings also congregate in autumn. We saw a flight of these 

 birds in the autumn of 1814, in Kings County, Ireland, which liter- 

 ally darkened the air, and must have consisted of at least a hundred 

 thousand ; they were flying near the immense marshy plain near Banachee, 

 through which the Shannon flows. " In the autumnal and hyemal 

 months," says Selby, " these birds gather in immense flocks, and are 

 particularly abundant in the fenny parts of Nottinghamshire and Lin- 

 colnshire, where they roost among the reeds. Before they retire to rest, 

 they perform various manoeuvres in the air, the whole frequently describing 

 rapid revolutions round a common centre. This peculiar flight will 

 sometimes continue for nearly half an hour before they become finally 

 settled for the night. Upon the approach of spring they spread them- 

 selves over the whole country." ED. 



