154 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 
slightly smaller than the male and has a slightly smaller and duller grey patch 
on the nape. The young are dull black, the grey patch very feebly indicated. 
There are few places where the Jackdaw cannot find a home: coming from the 
Continent to Englard, this bird may be seen in numbers flying in and out of 
holes in the cliffs of Dover, its incessant cries chack, chack, being a welcome sound ; 
so also in country or town, in ruined castle or modern palace the Jackdaw is 
everywhere to be seen. I must confess that I like the Jackdaw: he is a bird 
with considerable sense of humour, and (in spite of much persecution) he seems 
to bear no malace. ‘The late Lord Lilford, however, could find nothing good to 
say of him: the following being some of his remarks respecting the Jackdaw in 
his ‘Birds of Northamptonshire’:—‘This amusing but most pernicious bird is 
extremely common in our county, and probably only too well known to most of 
our readers. In the hollow trees about the park and pleasure-grounds of Lilford 
they used to swarm at the breeding-season, till we found it absolutely necessary 
to wage war upon them in the interests of our garden, poultry, and game, to say 
nothing of those of the Barn Owl, a species for which we have always entertained 
a sincere respect and affection. The Daws not only carried off numbers of young 
chickens, pheasants, and partridges, and committed havoc among our green-peas 
and other vegetables, but in several instances, to our knowledge, took possession 
of the Owls’ nests, destroyed their eggs, and piled up their own nests in the cavities 
selected by the harmless and most useful bird of night; occasionally, however, the 
tables are turned, as we have previously mentioned when treating of the Barn Owl. 
For these misdemeanours we have for some years past made a practice of shooting 
the old Jackdaws and destroying their nests and eggs wherever we found them, 
with the result of decided benefit to ourselves and our neighbours. The Jackdaw 
disputes the palm for noisy and obtrusive impudence with the House-Sparrow, and 
does not, to our knowledge, compensate us in any way for his misdoings. ‘That 
the Daw fulfils his duties in the great scheme of Nature I do not deny, but must 
confess that I am unable to discover what they may be.” 
Seebohm, however, although he admits that it levies blackmail on the Gulls, 
says of the Jackdaw :—‘‘It is quite as harmless a bird as the Rook, and at certain 
seasons of the year it is very useful. You have but to watch its actions in the 
fields to be convinced of this.” 
The Jackdaw’s flight is like himself, strong, but somewhat purposeless; he 
sets off to fly to some point, changes his mind, swings gracefully round and 
alights on the exact spot from which he started; indeed he is very fond of 
aerial evolutions; his wings are rapidly flapped when on the wing, and when he 
alights on the ground he generally comes down with either a see-sawing or spiral 
