ROOKS. 251 



chestnut-trees, though the elms were full of them. 

 In the ahove instance, however, they certainly gave 

 the oak a preference, leaving an elm-tree close at 

 hand untenanted. These birds, like the rest of their 

 species, return at a particular time in Autumn; and 

 for a few days, seem to be very busy about their 

 nests, as if preparing them for immediate use, and 

 then desert them for the Winter; no reason has been 

 discovered for this singular habit, peculiar, it is 

 believed, to Rooks. May it not probably arise from 

 an instinctive feeling, that as the nests will be 

 wanted early in the Spring, a few repairs may be 

 requisite to strengthen and prevent their being 

 shattered or blown to pieces by the storms of Win- 

 ter; and that,- according to the homely proverb of 

 " the stitch in time saving nine," they may thus be 

 saving themselves a greater degree of labour than 

 they could easily bestow, when the trees are again 

 to be occupied? Most other birds are under no 

 necessity of looking after these autumnal repairs, as 

 they do not use the same old nests, but build entirely 

 new ones. 



Rooks, we have seen, will occasionally remove, 

 and colonize other situations at a distance from their 

 late frequented abodes; and, as some persons may 

 wish to establish a rookery in their own immediate 

 neighbourhood, it has been said, that by looking out 

 for a Magpie's nest near the wished-for spot, and 

 exchanging her eggs for those of a Rook, the de- 

 sirable point may be accomplished; the young Rooks 

 having no other associations than those of the tree 

 in which they were bred, and being sure of a harsh 

 reception, if not of being picked to death, if ven- 



