BEARING AND FItOTECTION. 71 



I have known many eases where pheasants liave sat, 

 and reared theii- yoant^' safely, almost immediately iirjder 

 a roolcery. (Jn the other hand, there is no doubt but 

 tliat, when pressed for food oi- where tliey once acquire 

 tlie habit, rooks will destroy pheasants' egg's in large 

 numbers. 



The late Colonel J. Whyte, Newtowu JManor, Sligo, 

 writes as follows respecting the rook : " There apjiears some 

 doubt whether rooks suck pheasants' eggs, or whetlier the 

 carrion crow is not the real depredator. Perhaps what 

 follows may set the question at rest. iSotne years ago, Ltird 

 Clonbrock asked me if I fiad ever known i-ooks eat the eggs 

 of ]:>heasants. My idea was that they might d(_i so occasionally, 

 but not as a cnstom. His lordslnp replied : ' 'hhe rooks about 

 me bave within the last year or two taken to liunt up and 

 destroy the eggs as regularly as if they were so many magpies. 

 I did not believe my keeper at first, but, going myself to loolv 

 out, I saw tlieni regularly beating up and down a piece of 

 rough ground whei'e the pheasants nest, a,nd when they lV>und 

 one they would rise up a few yards in the air and tlieu pounce 

 down on it.' Lord DunsaniUe's place is wdhin tifteen or 

 sixteen miles of Lord Clonljrock ; there a.i'e three I'ookei'ies m 

 it, and the tirst question 1 asked the keeper on my arrival 

 there to shoot, was, ' \)o the I'ooks suck or damage the 

 plieasants' eggs '' ' The answer was, ' No ' ; nor did they do 

 so till this year. But about a week ago I receiveil from Lord 

 J3uusaudle a letter, in which he said, 'I'liis year the rooks 

 have taken t(.i destroying my pheasants' eggs, and the 

 mischief they have done is incredible ; the helils are strewn 

 with broken eggs.' It would therefore appear that not only 

 do rooks destro}^ t'gg's, hut that they take to it in a sudden 

 and unaccountable manner. 'The reason that no shells 

 are to be found under tlie trees in a rookery is, that the 

 re>ok breaks and eats the eggs on the spot. Jackdaws will 

 eat eggs wdienever they can find them, and my keepei' 

 assures me that a short time since he saw one take a little 



