50 A GAMEKEEPER'S NOTE-BOOK 



him approach as they seldom fail to do. The birds 

 are cunning enough to watch from the top of a tall, 

 distant tree, until they see the enemy go away, when 

 they will return at once to the nest in full confidence. 

 But they may be tricked quite easily. Let two men 

 with a gun go together to stand below a rook's 

 nest. Away go the nesting birds. Then let one 

 of the men take his departure, with or without the 

 gun, while the other waits. The birds will return 

 promptly, as though they imagined both men had 

 gone. 



The keeper has small sympathy with the crow tribe, 

 and takes every opportunity to reduce their numbers. 

 Sometimes he will carry a ferret to an open spot, over 

 which crows or others are likely to fly, peg the ferret 

 down, and himself lie in wait with a gun. No rook, 

 crow, magpie or jay can resist the temptation to mob 

 the ferret. So the keeper takes advantage of the 

 widespread bird-hatred of the weasel tribe. He traces 

 a lost and wandering ferret by the wild clamouring 

 of the jays that have caught sight of the bloodthirsty 

 creature, or by hints from other birds, great and small. 



Carrion crows hold mysterious sway over rooks ; a 

 single pair of crows will drive a great crowd of rooks 

 from a rookery. Yet a crow, when compared to a rook, 

 does not seem to be much more powerful or armed 

 with a much more formidable beak. A casual observer 



