A ROOKERY IN SPRING 25 



excitement of the effort, and tries vainly to land on the back of the sitting 

 female in the next nest ! 



This behaviour is naturally much resented, and the young Rook soon 

 finds himself pushed overboard, where, hanging almost upside down, but 

 clinging on desperately with his extraordinarily strong feet and sharp talons, 

 he finds himself in a poor strategic position, and the target for a series of sharp 

 jabs from the old female's beak ! 



At length thoroughly exhausted, and no doubt smarting from his injuries, 

 the young Rook collapses and is only saved from a premature descent to earth 

 by a branch that happily chances to spread just below him. 



He soon recovers his composure, however, and is presently perched almost 

 as high as his brother ; where, amongst a company of some half-dozen other 

 young Rooks, and two or three old ones, he seems at least temporarily satisfied. 



It is whilst the old and young Rooks are thus sitting in groups that one 

 notices particularly the strange characteristic which enables one to differentiate 

 between them. Whereas the immature Rook has at the base of the beak 

 a black feathery moustache-like growth which, as it were, lies along the upper 

 mandible, and is very similar to the ' moustache ' a magpie or crow possesses, 

 the mature bird has the base of the bill surrounded by bare, greyish-coloured 

 skin ; by which, as may be seen from the illustrations, it may readily be dis- 

 tinguished from the Carrion Crow. 



Our period of observation at an end, and the retm-n of our companion 

 expected at any moment, we will close this chapter by reminding the reader 

 that during the hours which we have spent in the observation post, some 

 rather trying moments have been experienced. 



Cramp and mosquitoes are the two most common troubles — and one wonders 

 what mosquitoes are doing at such a height. Then of course the seat is none too 

 comfortable, and shoddy bags do not make the pleasantest of summer-houses. 



However, there are many redeeming features, and among them the fact 

 that, first of all, the Rooks have behaved exceedingly well, and secondly that 

 there was never any need to remain absolutely quiet, for the Rooks have 

 made sufficient continuous noise to drown any sound that the observer might 

 accidentally produce. 



