7-2 PHEAHANTS FOR roVERTS AND AVIATllES. 



raljliit 11]) iu liis claws seveiMl >ar(ls, and tlicu di-oji it oo In's 

 apprdacli." 



Wr. JjCiio, a very extensive ]ilicasant hrceder, states the 

 case still uKjre i'orcibly : — " "Sly experieDCe is, that I'ooks will 

 <lestr(iy pheasants' e,ti'gs wlienever tliey liappen to tind them 

 out. In one week a rciok came twice and settled down in my 

 pheasantry, and took an eo'u- away each time; and where 

 rooks aliound, it pci'chance a pheasant's or jiartridg'e's 

 nest is left by the mowers, the rooks may he seen crowdiuo- 

 ar(jund the ]iatch of gi'ass left for shelter, and the eggs 

 are finished in cpiick time. It is useless to leave a nest 

 exposed iu the neighboni-hood of rooks, as they are sure to 

 eat them.'' 



Mr. Ilarunin, of Iviverstown, co. Sligo, writes: "I can 

 conlirm tlie destruction of pheasants' eggs. A few years 

 ago, in a dr}' spring, with a north-cast wind for many weeks, 

 when the roi.iks could not Imrc t("ir their accaistmned food, 

 about one hundred an<I fifty pheasants' eggs — ?'..'., the shells 

 — were found under the I'ookery near the house, Iniving been 

 taken by the rooks to feed their young, other food failing 

 them. T have caught them wdien baiting traps with eggs for 

 magiiies." 



^Alr. J. E. Harting informs me that on one occasion, in the 

 month of April, about the 1-ltli oi' loth, he saw a I'ook in the 

 act of ca.rrying off a. ])heasant's egg from a, copse in West 

 iSussex. The bird was carrying tlie egg n]ion tla.' point <.if the 

 bill, and on being fired at he dro-|iped it. Tliei'e was a large 

 and iia'egularly shaped hole towards tlie larger end. On the 

 very u'round where this occnia'ed, my infoi'inant had heard the 

 keeper say that he had on more than one occasion shot rooks 

 in the act of carrying olT pheasants' eggs. 



The balance of tlie evidence for and against the rook iu 

 res]iect (jf conduct regai'ding the eggs of pheasants, aiuiears 

 to sIkjw that, wdien lia.i'd ])ressed for food, rooks will even 

 destroy not only eggs but also the young birds. ^V correspon- 

 dent writes as follows: — "On Juue 13 my keeper observed 



