THE ROOK. 315 



tation of the field, and keep them within due bounds. Both 

 England and the continent furnish instances of the almost total 

 destruction of crops in particular districts, consequent on its ex- 

 tirpation. 



The good done by this bird is generally admitted by the authors 

 who have written within the last sixty years, greatly to exceed the 

 evil it commits. Sir Wm. Jardine speaks of the good, as " at least 

 compensating for their destruction or injury to the produce of the 

 fields." It may be possible, that in particular localities the " Dr." 

 and " Cr." account will about balance. A gentleman whose ex- 

 tensive farm is situated in the valley of the Lagan, and little more 

 than a mile distant from three extensive rookeries, (his place 

 forming, as it were, the centre of the circle,) once remarked to me, 

 he would rather than ten pounds a year, that rooks never 

 alighted on his fields. His charges against them comprise about 

 the sum total of the evil propensities of the species : that, " when 

 the blade of wheat just shows itself above the ground, or the 

 pickle of grain is by frost, or otherwise, rendered accessible, these 

 birds pick it off at daybreak ; when grain is lodged, they utterly 

 destroy it, and when in stooks, do serious damage, not only by 

 eating the pickles, but by carrying away heads of the grain, which 

 are found scattered about the adjacent fields. They injure the 

 potato crop, by picking up the planted ' sets' in spring, 

 and in autumn, the young potatoes. This is only done where 

 the crop is thin and poor, as from such bare spots, they 

 can have a look-out against approaching enemies; where the 

 foliage is luxuriant, they never alight. They sometimes, too, 

 attack the cherries in the garden." * The only good attributed 

 to them is their " picking the grubs off lay ground, when broken 

 up and harrowed." That where very numerous, they do much 

 of the harm here alleged, is undoubted ; but to prove they 

 do much more good than is imagined, I requested to be allowed 



* Mr. Jesse, who in his Gleanings of Natural History treats most agreeably of 

 rooks generally, (and particularly of the Royal rookeries,) remarks, that these birds 

 are " sad depredators on my cherry-trees, attacking them early in the morning and 

 carrying off great quantities." He is nevertheless satisfied, that the good done by 

 the species greatly counterbalances the evil. 



