I4 2 KALM'S ENGLAND. 



crow called by zoologists Cornix frugilega, and by the in- 

 habitants of the island of Oland off the coast of Sweden, 

 Roka. (See Linn. Fauna Svecica). They had built their 

 nests up in the highests summits, skatan, of elms, oaks, 

 and other lofty leaf trees, where no one could get at 

 them. There were often seen in a single tree ten, twelve, 

 sixteen, twenty, and more such nests, bon, all made this 

 year. There was therefore constantly, but especially in 

 the mornings early such screeching, skrik, in these 

 trees that one could scarcely hear what another person 

 said if they were standing near the trees. These birds, 

 Kreatur, did the " farmers " or agriculturist, Landt- 

 mannen, an incredible amount of harm, for as soon as 

 wheat, barley, oats, pease, or, in a word, whatever kind 

 of crop there might be was sown, they covered the fields 

 and plucked up, plackade up, as much as they could 

 get at. When the pease were sown, which was nearly 

 all done by the drill, or in rows, and began to peep up, 

 there were the rooks collected in large numbers. They 

 began to follow along the rows [T. I. p. 175] in which 

 the pease were sown, and pulled up, ryckte up, all they 

 could find, so that not many of the peas were left. I 

 saw a farmer who had this spring sown a large field with 

 pease which were so entirely destroyed by these destruc- 

 tive birds that he was obliged to plough it up and sow it 

 again with oats, because scarcely a single pea was left 

 remaining. Scare-crows, Fogel-scramslor, were set 

 up in the fields, but could not frighten them, kunde 

 icke injaga nagon raddhoga i dem. Many might 

 think because they always had their nests in trees near 

 villages, that it was not difficult either to shoot them 

 there dead, up in the trees, or to destroy their nests, or to 

 climb up in the trees and poke down their nests with long 

 poles, or in some other way to prevent their increasing in 

 numbers. To this it is answered : " Certainly, sir, if one 



