RURAL BIRD LIFE. 



amongst the Gothic architecture of cathedrals. May- 

 has arrived ere the Jackdaw commences her rude abode, 

 that is, those birds setting up nest-building for the first 

 time, or those whose nests need repairing. The nest is 

 built of sticks, and lined with clods of turf, moss, wool, 

 and feathers, and the eggs are four or five in num'ber, 

 pale bluish-green in ground colour, spotted and speckled 

 with brown of various shades : they are a little larger 

 than those of the Magpie. It is very probable that the 

 Jackdaw rears its young on food somewhat different to 

 that of the Rook, and this will then explain the lateness of 

 their breeding season. At all events dissection would 

 place the matter beyond a doubt. 



The food of the Jackdaw is just as varied in its 

 nature as the food of the Rook. In the early months 

 he will follow the plough, and frequent the newly sown 

 land ; he will frequent the potato fields and grass 

 lands, and feed upon the wire-worms. In spring and 

 summer insects and grubs form his main support ; in the 

 autumn he will eat the acorns and beech mast ; while in 

 the winter, when hard pressed, he will prey upon carrion 

 and the refuse of the slaughter-house. The Jackdaw 

 seems not to be persecuted in so relentless a manner 

 as the other members of the Crow family, yet how he 

 has gained this freedom from oppression I know not. 

 But pity it is his congeners cannot indulge in the same 

 degree of safety, for their usefulness is apparent to every 

 one who makes the feathered tribe the object of his 

 study. 



The Carrion Crow resembles the Rook in his ap- 

 pearance, but he is rather a stouter-made bird, and he 

 never has the throat and base of'the mandibles bare of 

 feathers, and by this circumstance alone you can always 

 tell him from his sable congener. We see the Carrion 



