164 Rooks and Rookeries By James Small. 



continued roo-roo-roo, uttered in a high pitch ; and I have 

 also noticed that the nestlings when they hear this, and they 

 know a mother's voice as well as does a child, begin to flutter 

 and cackle, well knowing doubtless that food and caresses are in 

 store for them. After leaving the nest the young are fed by 

 their parents for a short time, and they fly in company for a few 

 months. 



The male rook is an inch longer than the female; but the 

 plumage of both is the same. 



The young do not get a scabrous beak (whiteneb) till very late 

 in the autumn ; and sometimes it is spring before the change 

 takes place. I have seen a tame rook nearly fifteen months old 

 before the beak was changed in colour. 



In wild upland districts where there are no trees it is not un- 

 common for a large flock of rooks to roost for the night on the 

 ground, among rough bent-grass and heather, which yield them 

 excellent shelter ; and as the fox, like his friends of the dog 

 race, does not partake of rook, they sit without molestation ; and 

 when dawn comes they will no doubt find breakfast at hand ; for 

 I do not think they would roost in such places were it not in the 

 prospect of food to be had in the dawn. Very wild windy 

 weather may also sometimes cause them to take up a ground abode 

 for a night now and again.- The late Mr John Elliot, Primrose- 

 hill, told the writer that on a summer night in crossing a high 

 spur on the Lammermoors he and a friend rode into a large flock 

 of rooks that were roosting among the heather. He was greatly 

 surprised, as so doubtless would be the birds, which all flew off 

 in silence, barring the flapping and fluttering made by their 

 wings as they hurriedly made off. Eooks if disturbed during 

 the night make no vocal sound whatever. In this they are unlike 

 their congeners the jackdaws, which now so numerously lodge and 

 hunt with rooks, and which give voice at any hour of the night if 

 disturbed. From the rookery in Galashiels it is quite a common 

 thing to hear a great midnight clamour, all done by the jackdaws. 

 This is specially noticeable in bright moonlight nights, when the 

 male and young flying rooks and jackdaws can be seen roosting on 

 the branches. Having quietly watched them on many such 

 nights, I am of opinion that the frequent cacklings and flutterings 

 are caused by a few of the more restless jackdaws ; and when 

 one or two give voice, in a second of time the whole daw tribe 

 seem to join in the concert, while the annoyed rooks solemnly 



