174 OMNI VOILE. 



scrutiny ; and, by the time that " the day is done," he returns 

 to his perch, cawing to inform you that the labour is accom- 

 plished, and the labourer paid, in less time than you would take 

 in considering how to do either the one or the other. 



The great additional labour of the rooks is the preparing 

 of their nests, and the rearing of those families which are to 

 continue the society, and watch over the state of the fields, 

 after age or casualty shall have given their own feathers to 

 the winds and their flesh to the raven ; and their early rising, 

 their constant labour, and the order and police which they 

 maintain, are all very curious. Their time of commencement 

 is the first of March, a little earlier or a little later, accord- 

 ing to the season ; and, as the building of the nest and the 

 instinct by means of which that nest is to be stocked come to 

 maturity together ; so, if the lapwing-storm, which, raging 

 on the shores, and in the low country, helps to drive these 

 beautiful birds to the moors, be long and protracted, the nest- 

 building is suspended till it blows over, and the rook con- 

 tents himself in the interim with watching the safety of those 

 sticks that are already placed. 



But if the season goes cheerily on, and there is no inter- 

 ruption, the cawing and the bustle begin at the greyest dawn ; 

 and that man is most industrious that can get to his work 

 before the rook. " Ask the beasts, and they shall tell j the 

 birds and they shall instruct." It is good, at that season, to 

 be near a rookery. There is no lullaby in their cawing ; you 

 cannot sleep ; and they will not allow you to be dozing and 

 "losing thought" in bed. Rise you must, or suffer for it. 

 But they do not annoy you at nights : " Early to bed and early 

 to rise" is the rooks' maxim, and if you follow them as far as 

 that, the rest will follow of necessary consequence. 



But their admonition does not stop there. The farmer's 

 busy time is their busy time ; they feel that he is as necessary 

 to their present profit as they are to his future ; or they act 



