130 



THE ROOK. 



US can " swim surprisingly." The mere motion of 

 its legs, to propel its floating body towards land, in 

 order to escape from certain death on an element 

 where it was never intended by Nature to exist, even 

 for the space of one short hour, has been magnified 

 by Mr. Audubon into an important act of " swimming 

 surprisingly." 



If the admirers of Mr. Audubon should try to 

 force us to agree with their great naturalist, that 

 partridges can " swim surprisingly," then it behoves 

 us to call upon them to declare that every bird in 

 the creation can swim. Our little tomtit, till now a 

 land bird, must be proclaimed to swim surprisingly, 

 and have a place amongst the waterfowl ; because, 

 on tumbling accidentally into a washing tub, he has 

 " muscular power sufficient to keep up a protracted 

 struggle" till he reaches the side. 



ON THE HABITS OF THE ROOK. 



Last year I partly promised that, on some dismal 

 winter's evening, I would sit me down, and write the 

 history of the rook. The period has now arrived. 

 Nothing can be more gloomy and tempestuous than 

 the present aspect of the heavens. The wind is 

 roaring through the naked branches of the syca- 

 mores, the rain beats fiercely on the eastern win- 

 dows, and the dashing of the waves against the 

 walls of the island, warns us that one of November's 

 dark and stormy nights is close at hand; such a 

 night,^ probably, as that in which Tam O'Shanter 



