252 JACKDAWS. 



turing to join any neighbouring rookery in which 

 they have no family connexions. 



The habits of a Jackdaw are known to everybody : 

 wherever found, he is the same active, bustling, 

 cheerful, noisy fellow. Whether in the depth of a 

 shady wood, " remote from cities and from towns," 

 or, whether established in the nooks and niches of 

 some Gothic cathedral-tower, in the very midst of 

 the world, it matters not to him. He seems to 

 know neither care nor sorrow, ever satisfied 

 always happy! Who ever saw or heard of a moping, 

 melancholy Jackdaw ? 



We have in England another bird much resem- 

 bling him in manners and colour, though from cer- 

 tain distinguishing features, such as a bent orange- 

 coloured beak and legs, &c., it has been placed in 

 another division of birds. It is the red-legged Crow 

 or Chough, never seen in most parts of our island, 

 though in its favourite haunts, in front of high preci- 

 pices and steep rocks by the sea, often very abundant. 

 Like Jackdaws, the Choughs are easily tamed, and 

 are as entertaining, and at the same time as trouble- 

 some when tamed. On a lawn, were five were kept, 

 one particular part of it was found to turn brown, 

 and exhibit all the appearance of a field suffering 

 under severe drought, covered as it was with dead 

 and withering tufts of grass, which it was soon ascer- 

 tained the Choughs were incessantly employed in 

 tearing up by the roots, for the purpose of getting at 

 the grubs, already alluded to in our description of 

 Rooks. The way they set about it was this : they 

 would walk quietly over the surface, every now and 

 then turning their heads, with the ear towards the 



