A ROOKERY IN SPRING 21 



All that is now needed is one more shoddy bag to serve as a roof, a little 

 platform affair on which the camera may be fixed, and some black muslin. 



At this stage in the proceedings there is one danger to be guarded against, 

 and that is the possibility of the Rooks returning while work in the observation 

 post is in progress, for in all probabiUty any chances of success would be 

 doomed if the Rooks should retiu-n to find a human being dallying so close 

 to their homes. 



So it is necessary to devise some means of keeping them away during 

 the time that the observation post is being completed. 



AH of which sounds simple enough ; but, as a matter of fact, the business 

 of collecting sacks and shoddy bags, of dragging camouflage branches, and so 

 on, to the foot of the tree, and of hauhng them all to the proper elevation — ^to 

 say nothing of fixing them in the desired position, is really at times somewhat 

 trying. For when they, or some of them, are at length lodged in the fork of 

 some swaying branch, it is with the utmost difficiilty that one hangs on with 

 one hand, and attempts to tie up sacking, or hammer in a nail with the 

 other. 



By building the observation post thus gradually, one not only lessens 

 the chance of scaring the Rooks, but spreads the hateful task over a longer 

 period; nevertheless the waves of hopeless exasperation which are apt to 

 overcome one at such times are never wholly avoided. 



But at length the observation post is completed. The roof does not 

 need camouflage of any kind, for almost resting upon it are no less than foirr 

 Rooks' nests, three of which by this time contain fair-sized young ones. 

 Without doubt one could easily touch an old Rook by making a hole through 

 the bottom of her nest. But it would be a senseless thing to do. 



The day having arrived then, when close-range observation and photo- 

 graphy of the Rook is to be attempted, we — ^the writer and a companion — set 

 out for the Rookery. 



It is essential in such a case to have a companion to accompany one 

 to the Rookery, to stand by until all is in readiness, and to leave as 

 noisily and ostentatiously as possible ; for otherwise the Rooks would in all 

 probability reason out the fact, that if some one ascended the tree, disappeared, 

 and has not since descended, then that some one must be still in the tree. 

 This undesirable state of affairs is perhaps obviated by one's companion endeav- 

 ouring to keep the attention of the Rooks concentrated on himself. In his 

 efforts to attain this end, he throws his hat in the air, shouts, and performs 

 other queer antics. 



During the past summer a friend of mine who was carrying out this part 

 of the work with extraordinary energy, was much embarrassed to suddenly 

 find that he had a large and deeply interested audience watching him ! Doubt- 

 less they thought him mentally deficient. 



