102 Zoological Notices, by James Smail. 



yellows ; but are fondest of Swedes. They dig into the bulbs 

 and make holes, often pear-shaped, and when these get filled 

 with water and frozen, the turnips become nearly useless when a 

 thaw sets in. 



Tame Book. — For several years I had a Book, which was 

 brought from a rookery when young, and in full feather, and 

 which was accidently killed. He was most remarkably tame, be- 

 sides being smart and clever ; much more so than a Jackdaw I 

 have had for many years. The Book at times made so much fun 

 amongst the children, tugging at their clothes, or stealing or try- 

 ing to steal small things from them, sometimes giving chase and 

 sometimes being chased by them, that I really think he had some 

 idea of fun. During the day he and the Jackdaw had the range 

 of a large apple tree, where they did a good deal of gossip, and 

 sometimes a short round of fighting with wild Jackdaws and an 

 occasional Book. Throwing any light thing up to them on the 

 tree, the Book generally was the catcher of it. A penny thrown 

 to him at an elevation of fourteen feet or so, he almost never 

 failed to catch. With the penny in his beak he used to watch 

 eagerly for more, and when a second was thrown he generally 

 dropped the -first to catch it ; but I, and others, have seen him 

 catch the second penny without dropping the first ; and it was 

 amusing to see him hopping about the tree in high glee, head 

 and tail erect, with twopence in his mouth. In the house — and 

 he was brought in nearly every day — he had places where he hid 

 spare bits of butcher-meat, and small toys he had got or taken 

 from the children ; and it often appeared to me as if he enjoyed 

 the make-believe attacks he made on the children when they 

 approached his hidden stores, which he watched with wondrous 

 care. Some of the larger children he sometimes bit, when they 

 took pet things from him ; but the youngest child could get any- 

 thing from him without being bitten ; and he never offered to 

 bite me on any occasion. He flew off to the Gala Bark rookery 

 after he had been with us a month, but he returned at nightfall. 



In the first summer and autumn of the year in which I got 

 him, I often watched his ways when on the prowl for food in the 

 garden. He moved stones by inserting his beak under them 

 and then opening it. This enabled him to see what grubs might 

 or might not be underneath. He was fond of pulling up the 

 larger shot-blades of grass ; and when the stem came up he 



