248 ROOKS. 



ious worms, particularly of one called the pease 

 beetle (Bruchus pisi). For no sooner" were the birds 

 destroyed, than the insects multiplied to such a 

 degree, as to cause the total loss of the grass in 

 1749, when the colonists had to get their hay from 

 Pennsylvania, and even from Great Britain." 



We often hear persons congratulating themselves 

 on a deep snow, a hard frost, or dry weather, as the 

 surest means of destroying insects; whereas it is 

 just the reverse. A hard frost, or a deep snow, or 

 a dry summer, are the very best protection they can 

 have, and for this reason: the Rooks and other birds 

 cannot reach that innumerable host which pass the 

 greatest part of their existence under-ground. In 

 vain the hungry Rook, in a hard frost, looks over a 

 fine fallow, or a field of new-sown wheat. He may 

 be seen sitting on a bare bough, like Tantalus, in. 

 the midst of plenty beyond his reach, with his fea- 

 thers ruffled up, casting every now and then an 

 anxious glance over the frozen surface, beyond the 

 power of even his strong beak to penetrate. His 

 situation is much the same in dry Springs or Sum- 

 mers, when he may be seen walking up and down by 

 the sides of highways, picking up what he can get. 

 In the hot Summer of 1825, many of the young 

 broods of the season are reported to have been 

 starved; the mornings were without dew, and con- 

 sequently few or no earth-worms were to be obtained, 

 and they were found dead under the trees'", having 

 expired on their roostings. It was quite distressing, 

 says an eye-witness, to hear the constant clamour of 



* Journal of a Naturalist. 



