THE JACKDAW. 313 



other three, if it only had that particular kind of convenience for 

 incubation which its nature, for reasons totally unknown to us, seems 

 to require. Though the jackdaw makes use of the same kind of 

 materials for building as those which are found in the nest of the 

 rook ; though it is, to all appearance, quite as hardy a bird ; and 

 though it passes the night, exposed to the chilling cold and rains of 

 winter, on the leafless branches of the lofty elm ; still, when the 

 period for incubation arrives, it bids farewell to those exposed heights 

 where the rook remains to hatch its young, and betakes itself to the 

 shelter which is afforded in the holes of steeples, towers, and trees. 

 Perhaps there is no instance in the annals of ornithology which tells 

 of the jackdaw ever building its nest in the open air. Wishing to 

 try whether these two congeners could not be induced to continue 

 the year throughout in that bond of society which, I had observed, 

 was only broken during incubation, I made a commodious cavity in 

 an aged elm, just at the place where it had lost a mighty limb, some 

 forty years ago, in a tremendous gale of wind which laid prostrate 

 some of the finest trees in this part of Yorkshire. At the approach 

 of breeding- time, a pair of jackdaws took possession of k r -and reared 

 their young in shelter ; while the rooks performed a similar duty on 

 the top of the same tree, exposed to all the rigours of an English 

 spring. This success induced me to appropriate other conveniences 

 for the incubation of the jackdaw ; and I have now the satisfaction 

 to see an uninterrupted fellowship exist, the year throughout, be- 

 tween the jackdaw and the rook. 



Those who are of opinion that birds are gifted with a certain 

 portion of reasoning, superior to that which is usually denominated 

 instinct, will have cause for reflection, should they ever examine the 

 materials of a jackdaw's nest, or pay any attention to the mode by 

 which the bird tries to introduce those materials into the hole. The 

 jackdaw invariably carries into it a certain quantity of sticks, fully as 

 thick as those which are made use of by the rook. Now, it always 

 occurs to us that the rook conveys sticks up to the branches of a tree 

 in order to make a kind of frame which may support the inner parts 

 of the nest. But why should the jackdaw deposit a large heap of 

 strong sticks in the hole which is already calculated to support 

 every kind of material proper for a nest ? Then, again : how the act 



