290 ON SURREY HILLS. 



through some of these covers, or by the side of them, 

 yet the birds seem to know they can squeal and 

 squawk their loudest there with impunity. 



The rooks are hard pressed during murky, freezing 

 weather. If just enough snow has fallen to make 

 the pursuit of food very difificult, the poor birds call 

 to each other disconsolately as they flap from one 

 place to another, eagerly looking for something eat- 

 able. If they are fortunate enough to find any dead 

 carrion it is very soon disposed of. The rook feeds 

 in the same manner as does the carrion-crow, when 

 his more legitimate food — worms, grubs, beetles, and 

 the like — fails him. When driven to great straits he 

 is forced to take anything he can get. The jackdaws 

 are in just the same plight : they chatter in the most 

 doleful fashion, in a very different note from the 

 cheerful jackup ! jackup ! jack ! of better times, as 

 they pass overhead. What they get to keep life in 

 them is a mystery. As a rule, any spot on the hill- 

 fields, where the sun shines out, they at once pitch 

 down to. In fact, the poor things follow the sun all 

 the day long, if it shows itself at all. Sheepfolds 

 do not benefit any of these birds now except in 

 affording them perching - places, where they sit 



