4926 Tue ZooLtocist—May, 1876. 
whilst, as we often see starlings, searching for insects, &c., on the backs of 
sheep, to enable them to separate the wool, and so obtain their object. As 
Tam writing I may as well state that the above-named starling is an 
excellent talker, making use of the following and other phrases, “ Is it nice,” 
“Ts it good,” “ He wants his dinner,” “ How are you,” &c., and at times he 
would seem to know what he is talking about, as the following instance will 
show :—The lady of the house was sitting at work on a summer's afternoon, 
with the window open, the bird being by her side: on looking out of the 
window she saw a donkey endeavouring to get over the hedge into the 
garden; she sprang up without saying a word and hastily ran into the 
garden ; on passing the window she saw the starling in the greatest excite- 
ment, flying about the cage, and saying, as fast as he could repeat the 
phrase, ‘ What is it,” “ What is it.” When she returned to the parlour, 
she sat down again to her work; the bird quickly became less excited, yet 
sat quietly on the perch, but constantly repeating ‘‘ What is it.” The lady, 
without the least idea of being understood by the bird, said “The donkey 
was trying to get into the garden.” ‘“ Was it,” replied the starling, and then » 
became perfectly quict, seemingly quite satisfied in the matter.—Stephen 
Clogg; East Looe, Cornwall, April 13, 1876. 
A Note on Rooks.—About five years ago a few pairs of rooks took 
possession of some high trees near the Paper Mills here, and the number 
of nests went on increasing till last year, 1875, when the place was entirely 
deserted, and not a single family remained. This year they have appeared 
again, and the whole of the twenty or thirty nests seem to be occupied. 
Might one suppose that the first colony, which, though rearing its young 
successfully for several seasons, yet conceived some distaste to the place, 
and that, after the one year's interval, an entirely new set took possession, 
or is it only another instance of the eccentric habits of these birds? When 
the weather is dry, and food bad to extract from the hard ground, they 
show a considerable amount of cunning in snapping up the eggs laid by 
some wild ducks, a few of which breed yearly on a reservoir near the same 
place, and it has often been impossible to get a sitting without bringing 
them to the hens inside. A man has to be regularly on the watch at this 
time, and he and the rooks have many a race for the newly-laid eggs. ‘The 
black rascals sit three or four together on some of the trees on the banks, 
looking as if they had no concern whatever in mundane affairs; but let a 
duck swim out to take its morning’s bath, and flop! down they go right to 
the place it has come from, and its egg is gone in five minutes; lucky is 
the man if he arrive in time to secure it himself, for they are almost wholly 
indifferent to any amount of shouting and hallooing off. Two swallows 
and a house martin just seen this spring, April 11th, rather earlier than 
usual.—F’. S. Mitchell ; Clitheroe, Lancashire, April 20, 1876. 
Note on Rooks, &c.— As a proof that even the best authorities are 
