102 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



which have an appetite for the kernel long after it has sprouted. 

 Seed-corn must be drilled very deep to be safe from their long 

 beaks, on account of which and other misdeeds very few Norfolk 

 farmers give the Rook a good character. Assisted by the Jack- 

 daws — an increasing species in the eastern counties — the rascals 

 have also, in spite of shooting, been doing their best to let " the 

 weather " into the farmers' barley-stacks by persistently pulling 

 out great quantities of the top straw and much of the thatch for 

 the sake of the grain underneath, which they contrive to do with 

 the greatest skill, but more easily where a stack is made up of 

 short rakings. Two or three defunct Rooks hoisted on sticks 

 make a fairly efficient scarecrow, but occasionally a very hungry 

 Rook will not be deterred from making a regular burrow into a 

 stack, protruding from which may be seen the black tip of his tail. 

 More than this, Rooks will actually attack the roof of a barn, 

 which must be pure mischief, as there can be nothing to eat there, 

 except it be a few grubs in the thatch. Everyone knows their 

 unfortunate partiality for swede-turnips at this time of the year, 

 and that in itself is a strong indictment against large Rookeries. 

 By pecking holes they soon make the roots rot ; and in such 

 a winter as 1898-9 this is no joke. But perhaps what most 

 annoys the farmer is to see Rooks on a turnip-field when the 

 plant is just coming up, for, although in some cases the birds are 

 after the wireworm, the result is the same ; — a crop of barren spaces 

 appear in the field instead of swedes and mangolds, just as if a 

 portion of the field had not been sown at all. Mr. Holmes 

 informs me that at Winfarthing, Rooks have for some years 

 nested on nut-bushes, where they will not be safe from the 

 enraged Norfolk farmer, who seldom has a good word for these 

 sable thieves. 



14th. — Two Ruffs,f just commencing the spring change, shot 

 in a field of young wheat with some Lapwings at Postwick 

 (W. Spelman), which occurrence so very early in the year must 

 have been due to the open weather. Plovers at this season are 

 very fond of young wheat, and there have been a great many on 

 the uplands, and in this instance their presence no doubt acted 

 as a decoy to the Ruffs. Weather wet, but days very fine in 

 spite of it. 



23rd. — A pair of Shoveler Ducks on our largest broad (Bird). 



