250 ROOKS. 



him to change his residence and forsake his Rooks ; 

 but, to his great surprise and pleasure, the whole 

 rookery manifested such an attachment towards him, 

 as led them to desert their former habitation, and 

 accompany him to his new abode, which was about 

 three-quarters of a mile off, and there they have 

 continued to flourish ever since. It should be added, 

 that this person was strongly attached to all animals 

 whatsoever, and that he always experiences a 

 striking return of affection, even from the least 

 docile of them. 



Could we dive into all the mysteries of a rookery, 

 a page in the book of nature would be opened, 

 filled with much that " man's philosophy hath never 

 dreamed of." Without any assignable cause, a party 

 will secede from an old-established rookery and 

 form a new one. A case of this sort occurred 

 about five years ago, in the parish of Alderley, in 

 Cheshire. Seven pair of Rooks, supposed to have 

 come from an old rookery about two miles distant, 

 where an extent of wood admitted of unlimited 

 accommodation, took up their residence in a clump 

 of trees, and proceeded to bi^ild ; there they have 

 continued ever since, the number of nests increasing 

 as follows. In ] 828, there were seven nests ; in 

 1829, nine; in 1830, thirteen; in 1831, twenty-four; 

 in 1832, thirty-three; in 1833, upwards of fifty; 

 and in this year, there is a proportionate increase, 

 with colonies settling in adjacent trees. It has 

 been said, that Rooks usually prefer elm-trees for 

 building, and it was observed, that in a mingled 

 grove of horse-chestnuts and elms, at Hawley, in 

 Kent, not a single nest was ever built in the horse- 



