170 PROJECTED BANISHMENT OF 



this, and we pronounce them most useful 

 guardians of our meadows and our pastures. 



" Whenever we see the rooks in our turnip 

 fields, we know then, to our sorrow, what is 

 going on there ; we are aware that grubs are 

 destroying the turnips, and we hail with plea- 

 sure the arrival of the rooks, which alone can 

 arrest their dreaded progress. I have never 

 seen the least particle of turnip, or of turnip- 

 top, in the craws of the rooks, either young or 

 old. If these birds feed on Swedish turnips in 

 Scotland, they abstain from such food here, so 

 far as I can learn by enquiry: perhaps they 

 may be taking insects at the time that they are 

 seen perforating the turnip : dissection would 

 soon set this doubt at rest for ever. No farmer 

 in our neighbourhood ever complains that his 

 Swedish turnips are injured by the rook. 



" The services of the rook to our oak trees are 

 positively beyond estimation. I do believe, if 

 it were not for this bird, all the young leaves 

 in our oaks would be consumed by the cock- 

 chafers. 



" Whilst the ringdove is devouring the heart 

 shoot of the rising clover, you may see the rook 

 devouring insects in the same field. 



