REAltING AND I'liOTECTION. 



iibuut half a ilo/>eii ixxjks eiig'ageil a.iiioDgst tlic C(ji)ps u\ yoniig 

 jilieasants, and, suspecting tlieir oljirct, tirove them nIT. The 

 next rnoriiing, liaving fed antl watei'ed the voniig liirds, he 

 went t(j his cottag'e, and, l(joking ent altont six o'clock, saw a 

 stvono- deta,c]unent of rooks from a ueitrhhounno' coh.iny 

 in great excitement anjongst the coops. Jlo ran down, a 

 (-listauce of two hundred yards, as last as ]3o^siljle, hut lielore 

 he arrived thi'N' had succeded in kiding, and foi' the most 

 ]iart carrying off, from forty to hfty Iju'ds, two or three weeks 

 old. As lie came amongst them the}' Hew up in all directions, 

 their beaks full of the spod. The dead birds not carried 

 away had all of their heads pulled off, and most of their legs 

 and wings torn from the body. I have long known that 

 ro(jks destroy partridges' nests and eat the eggs when short 

 of (itlier food, but have never known a raid of this descrip- 

 tion. I attribute it t(j the excessive drought, which has so 

 starved the Ijirds by (h-priviug them of their natural insect 

 food that they ai'e driven to depredation. It will be necessary 

 to be uii guard for some time ; bad habits once acquired may 

 last even more than one seas(m. i'robably the half-dozen 

 rooks first seeu amongst the coops tasted two or three, and. 



tiiidine" them eatable, brou<:lit their friends in numbers the 

 next niorning." 



During recent years a great deal of evidence has been 

 accumulated respecting the destruction of eggs and young- 

 pheasants in preserves by rooks. In the sjii-ing of IHU?, at 

 the residence of Sir Walter (iilbey at i'llseuLam, it was 

 disc(jvered that the rooks had suddenly taken t(j the destruc- 

 tion of the eggs of the turkeys which were allowed to 

 breed in the open, and three nests had been ravaged, 

 the rooks being caught at their evil work by the keeper 

 and one of the visitors. Xo less than fifty t'ggs had lieeii 

 destroyed, tho>e only escaping on which the hens were 

 sitting. Having destroyed the wIk.iIc of the turkey eggs 

 availalde, the rooks then turned their attention to the 

 pheasants' eggs in the coverts, the report of the head keeper 



