THE ROOK — THE JACKDAW. 
137 
before I could come up it deliberately waded into the locli^ 
and, half-wading, half-swimuiing, often assisting itself with its 
sound wing, quickly managed to get across. The distance was 
about thirty yards. 
THE KOOK. 
Corvus frugilegus. 
A year seldom passes without a few Eooks being seen in 
Shetland, but they can only be considered as stragglers, driven 
by storms, and resting for a few days before seeking a country 
more suited to their habits. Even were trees numerous in 
Shetland, it would be difficult for Eooks to procure food in a 
soil so hard and full of stones. I have not observed more than 
eight at one time, but Miss Mouat informs me that in 1871 
about two hundred visited Bressay,. remaining a couple of days. 
Messrs Baikie and Heddle give much the same account of it 
in Orkney, and it seems to have been but an occasional visitor 
in Low’s time, for he says, Eooks are reckoned ominous 
if ever they appear here,” adding, in a note, When a Eook 
is seen people expect a famine to follow soon after.” 
THE JACKDAW. 
Corvus monedula. 
It is not often that a Jackdaw is seen in Shetland, but it has 
more than once, occurred in large flocks. I have been informed 
that in the spring of 1857 a considerable number were seen 
about the old ruined castle at Scalloway, and that at the same 
time about a dozen visited the little island of Mousa, where it 
was supposed they intended to build in the ruins of the Pictish 
Burgh. I have only seen it twice in Unst, but Mr Edmondston 
of Buness observed a very large flock about his house in the 
winter of 1856. 
Some of the inland rocks would form excellent nesting places. 
