398 THE JACKDAW. 



In captivity the Eook retains many of its wild customs, and in one instance was in 

 tlie habit of going round the hens' nests and eating the eggs as soon as they were laid. 

 The Eook is not often kept as a domestic pet, as it is with difficulty reared when young. 

 Before rain, the Eook has a curious custom of ascending to a considerable height, and 

 then shooting obliquely through the air, in a manner somewhat similar to a hawk making 

 its stoop. During the daytime, the Eooks are widely dispersed throughout the fields, 

 occasionally visiting their homes and then returning to their feeding-places ; but, as the 

 evening approaches, they cease feeding with one accord, and seek their nests, flying in 

 long trains to the spot where they have made then- residence. 



The nest of the Eook is large, and rather clumsily built ; consisting chiefly of sticks, 

 upon which are laid sundry softer materials as a resting-place for the eggs. The Eook is 

 a very gregarious bird, building in numbers on the boughs of contiguous trees, and having 

 a kind of social compact that often arises into the dignity of law. For example, the elder 

 Eooks will not permit the younger members of the community to build their nests upon 

 an isolated tree at a distance from the general assemblage ; and if they attempt to infringe 

 this regulation, always attack the offending nest in a body, and tear it to pieces. They 

 are even clever enough to notice the marks that are made on the trunks of trees that are 

 to be felled, and will neither build on those doomed branches nor permit their young 

 friends to do so. They also have a kind of criminal code, for they have been seen to hold 

 a sort of trial, ending in the condemnation and execution of the culprit ; and they 

 unanimously punish those lazy Eooks which, instead of going out to fetch sticks for their 

 nests, stay quietly at home and rob those of other Eooks. 



The nimiber of birds that are to be found in such rookeries is enormously great, 

 several thousands having been counted in a single assemblage. In such cases they do 

 great damage to the upper branches of the trees, and in some instances have been known 

 to kill the tree, by the continual destruction of the growing boughs. 



The colour of the Eook is a glossy, deep blue-black ; the blue being more conspicuous 

 on the wing-coverts and the sides of the head and neck. The bird may be easily 

 recognised, even at a distance, by the conspicuous greyish-white skin, which serves to 

 distinguish it from the crow. The length of an adult Eook is about eighteen or 

 nineteen inches. 



The smallest of the British Corvidse is the well-known Jackdaw, a bird of infinite 

 wit and humour, and one that has an extraordinary attachment for man and his 

 habitations. 



Although of similar form, and black of plumage, the Jackdaw may easily be distin- 

 guished from either the rook or the crow by the grey patch upon the crown of the head 

 and back of the neck, which is very conspicuous, and can be seen at a considerable 

 distance. The voice, too, is entirely different from the caw of the rook or the hoarse cry 

 of the crow, and as the bird is very loquacious, it soon announces itself by the tone of its 

 voice. It generally takes up its home near houses, and is fond of nesting in old buildings, 

 especially preferring the steeples and towers of churches and similar edifices, where its 

 nest and young are safe from the depredations of stoats, weasels, and other destroyers. 

 Indeed, there are few places where Jackdaws will not build, provided that they are 

 tolerably steep and high ; and there are many curious circumstances in connexion with its 

 nesting, which will presently be mentioned. 



In its wild state the Jackdaw has many of the rook habits, and therefore needs no 

 particular description. MuTie, however, mentions a curious circumstance, which seems to 

 point out a closer relationship between rooks and Jackdaws than could be supposed. " In 

 the latter part of the season, when the rooks from one of the most extensive rookeries in 

 Britain (in the woods of Panmure) made daily excursions of about six mUes to the warm 

 grounds by the seaside, and in their flight passed over a deep ravine in the rocky sides — 

 or rather side, for they only inhabited the sunny one — on which there were many Jack- 

 daws, I have observed that when the cawing of the rooks in their morning flight was heard 

 at the ravine, the Jackdaws, who had previously been still and quiet, instantly raised their 

 shriller notes and flew up to join the rooks, both parties clamouring loudly as if welcoming 



