268 Wild Life in a Southern County. 
If you approach the trio the two old birds at once 
take flight, seeing your gun, and the young bird in a 
few seconds goes after them. Had they the sense to 
repeat this operation, they might often draw the young 
one away from danger; as for their cawing, it does 
not seem to be quite understood by their offspring, 
who have hardly yet learned their own language. 
To appreciate this effort on the part of the old 
birds, it must be recollected that immediately after 
the first shot the great mass of the old rooks fly off 
in alarm. They go to some distance and then wheel 
round and come back at an immense height, and 
there, collected in loose order, circle round and round, 
cawing as they sail. For an old rook to remain in or 
near the rookery when once the firing has commenced 
is the exception, and must be a wonderful effort of 
moral courage, for of all birds rooks seem most afraid 
of a gun; and naturally so, having undergone, when 
themselves young, a baptism of fire. Those that 
escape slaughter are for the most part early birds that 
come to maturity before the majority, and so leave the 
trees before the date fixed for shooting arrived, or ac- 
quire a power of flight sufficient to follow their parents. 
on the first alarm to a safe distance. They have, 
therefore, a good opportunity of witnessing the de- 
struction of their cousins, and do not forget the lesson. 
_ Although the young birds upon getting out of the 
nest under ordinary conditions seem to like to wander, 
yet if they are driven out or startled by the shot they 
