3 i2 FERCHING BIRDS. 



In the autumn the rooks band together to plunder cornfields. They also do 



much mischief to young turnips, often tearing up thousands of newly-planted 



seedlings ; and in severe weather they attack the roots of the turnips, or devour 



such small birds as have become too enfeebled by want of food to elude their 



enemies. During the greater part of the year they are gregarious, and many of 



their established " rookeries " contain myriads of birds every night. Their sagacity 



enables them to evade the various forms of destruction which reduce the numbers 



of other birds, and, as they are extremely long-lived, the rapid increase in their 



numbers has become somewhat alarming. Though less easily reconciled to captivity 



than other members of the family, they are nevertheless lively and amusing pets. 



The daw or jackdaw (G. monedida) is readily distinguished from 



other crows by its small size, less powerful bill, and slaty-grey collar, 



the remainder of the plumage being entire black in the western form. The 



typical European daw is replaced in Northern Asia and Japan by Pallas's daw 



(C. dauricws), which wears a broad collar of ashy white and has a white belly. 



The daw is distributed locally throughout temperate Europe, and is very abundant 



in parts of Algeria. A highly gregarious species even in the breeding-season, it 



forms colonies in low cliffs, nesting numerously in the holes and recesses formed 



by weathering. Elsewhere single pairs appropriate disused rooks' nests, adapting 



them to their own purposes. Not the least remarkable of the many idiosyncrasies 



of this familiar bird, is the readiness with which it contents itself with every 



variety of nesting site, rearing its young as happily in a disused rabbit-hole as in 



the belfry of a church. The nest is often a cumbrous pile of sticks, carefully lined 



with hair, wool, or other soft material. The eggs vary in number from four to 



six, and are bluish green spotted with grey and brown. Mr. Tait says that the 



jackdaws frequenting the islands on the coast of Galicia breed in holes under the 



stones, and follow the droves of pigs, in order to secure the insects which these 



animals turn up when grubbing in the soil with their snouts. While the pig 



ploughs up the ground, they may often be seen perching on its back, waiting their 



opportunity. During seasons of drought jackdaws are sometimes compelled by 



hunger to commit serious depredations upon the pheasant-coops, in consequence 



of the earthworms upon which these birds largely subsist having retired from the 



surface to secure moisture at a greater depth. This species does not appear to 



make the migratory journeys frequently accomplished by rooks and hooded crows, 



the daw being in fact of a somewhat sedentary character, as evinced by the 



attachment which it displays for favourite nesting sites. A black variety of the 



European jackdaw, in which the usual grey collar has become entirely suppressed, 



has been regarded by some naturalists as a valid species. Although these are 



rare, white jackdaws are sufficiently plentiful. Examples of a uniform silver-grey 



occur from time to time, but are less frequently met with than white or pied 



birds. 



„,_ . The genus Nucifraqa contains only four species, three of which 



The Nutcrackers. . ° -, . : . . 



are designated nutcrackers from their partiality for nuts and other 



fruits. The American representative of the genus is Clarke's crow (N. columbiana), 



a plain grey-coloured bird with glossy black wings, most of the secondaries broadly 



tipped witli white, and the tail white, with the exception of the black central 



