VERMIN AND TRAPPING 83 



the chance of better luck with a second nest ; but 

 the days come when many a hen pheasant is 

 rendered chickless for the season, days when the 

 sap runs in the oaks, and myriads of caterpillars, 

 which keepers call palmers, hatch, and foul the 

 fresh oak-leaves with their feasting. Then come 

 to the woods great flocks of rooks, with their sons 

 and daughters, and all manner of relations. And 

 though there is other food enough and to spare, 

 nest after nest of pheasant eggs is destroyed, and 

 the young innocent rooks are led into the evil of 

 their elders. The pheasants which come to share 

 the caterpillar feast love to nest beneath the heads 

 of the felled oaks. 



I have been told that partridge eggs are safe 



from rooks, because they are so carefully covered 



up when the nest is left. So they are, during the 



laying period. But rooks are artful enough to take 



stock of the goings to and fro of nest-owning 



partridges ; besides, I think one may trust the 



ordinary rook to recognize a partridge nest when 



he sees it (however well covered are the eggs) 



quite as easily as does a keeper. When partridges 



are sitting is the most annoying time for rooks to 



destroy their nests, especially when the clutches of 



eggs have been added to by the keeper, who may 



have walked scores of weary extra miles to rescue 



the added eggs from nests in risky sites. To make 



matters worse, rooks find the ' setty ' eggs of 



62 



