BIRDS. 355 



were plainly expressive of affection, and a desire to please." 

 The young who are the ohjects of this solicitude suffer greatly 

 in seasons of drought. Mr. Knapp mentions that, in the hot 

 summer of 1825, many perished from want;* the mornings 

 were without dew, few or no worms could he obtained, and 

 all the young were found dead under the trees, having expired 

 on their roostings. 



The supply of food involves a question of much importance 

 to the farmer; namely, whether Rooks do him most good or 

 most evil? If it were possible to keep a regular account 

 of all their proceedings and their results, which way would 

 the balance lie? Should he regard the Rooks as friends or 

 as enemies? The question when considered for a moment 

 expands, and presents itself under a new form, and comprises 

 not Rooks alone, hut all those " trooping birds" that live 

 partly upon insects, and partly upon grain and other produce. 



The opinion of those who have most attentively weighed 

 the evidence on both sides is, that the continual benefit which 

 Rooks confer by the destruction of snails, worms, and insects 

 in their several states, far more than compensates for the 

 occasional injury they inflict. It is needful at seed-time to 

 guard the newly sown grain, and the potato " sets" against 

 their depredations ; that being done, offer them no molestation. 

 There are numerous insects that, in the Caterpiller state, eat 

 away the roots of grain or grass crops, while others in 

 different stages make their attacks above ground, and at a 

 later season. The larvae of the Cockchafer,! of the Click 

 Beetles, | and of the Harry-longlegs,^ are all underground 

 feeders; and sometimes when Rooks pull up grass and scatter 

 it about, its roots have been already destroyed by the unseen 

 devastators for which the birds are searching. " A gentle- 

 man," says Mr. Jesse, " once showed me a field which had 

 all the appearance of being scorched as if by a burning sun 

 in dry hot weather. The turf peeled from the ground as if it 

 had been cut with a turfing-spade, and we then discovered 

 that the roots of the grass had been eaten away by the larvae 

 of the Cockchafer, which were found in countless numbers at 

 various depths in the soil."|| The Rooks, which evince 



* Journal of a Naturalist. Tipulidse. 



f Melolontha vulgarly. \\ Gleanings of Natural History. 



f Elaterida3. 



