324 STRANGE DWELLINGS. 



The foundation of the nest is composed of sticks of various 

 sizes and lengths, all, however, being tolerably light and dry, 

 the Rook generally carrying up the dead branches that have 

 been blown down by the winds of the preceding winter. These 

 are usually interlaced among the spreading branches of a con- 

 venient spray, and thus form a rude basket-work, in which will 

 lie the softer materials on which the eggs and young are to 

 repose. The lining is composed almost entirely of long and 

 delicate fibrous roots, which are intertwined, so as to make an 

 interior basket very similar in general construction to the twig 

 basket of the exterior, and being so independent of it that, 

 with a little care, it can be lifted out entire. 



On this soft bed are laid the eggs, which are four or five in 

 number, and are rather variable in colour, the usual tint being 

 greenish grey, largely spotted, mottled, and splashed with dark 

 brown, in which a shade of green is visible. They vary in size 

 as well as in hue, and from the same nest I have taken eggs of 

 so different an aspect that a casual observer would probably 

 think them to be the production of distinct birds. 



The principal labours of nest-building fall on the young 

 birds, inasmuch as the elders mostly return to the same 

 domicile every successive season, and are seldom obliged to 

 make an entirely w^"^ nest. The young builders are sometimes 

 aggrieved at this distribution of labour, and try to equalize it 

 by helping themselves to the sticks belonging to other pro- 

 prietors. The general community, however, never suffer theft 

 to be perpetrated, and are sure in such a case to scatter the ill- 

 gotten materials, and force the dishonest birds to begin their 

 labours anew. 



When the young are launched upon the world and able to 

 get their own living, the nest is used no more, but is abandoned 

 both by parents and young, not to be again used until repaired 

 in the spring of the following year. It is a curious point in the 

 economy of the Rook, that, when it has abandoned its tem- 

 porary home, it does not choose to repose among the trees on 

 which the nest was made. Mr. Waterton, who possesses in- 

 valuable opDortunities tor studying the habits of this bird, and 



