NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 
79 
few trees which I possess are hardly worthy of the name. There are often as 
many as a hundred at a time. Where they come from, and whither they go for 
the night, I have never ascertained, as there is no rookery near. I used to feed 
them during more than one of the severe winters of the past, and it is certain that 
they, or some of them, know me by sight as well as possible. I still often carry 
out .some meat scraps to them, and there is one in particular which regularly 
watches for my appearance, and follows me about, at a distance of a few yards, 
wherever 1 go. The curious thing is that there has always been one bird to do 
this, for three or four years past. Whether it is always the same I cannot tell. 
The rook in question generally manages to get first turn at the food brought out, 
as it is so tame ; but he cannot refrain from giving a caw when I ajjpear, which 
quickly summons the test, and then a free contest ensues. Indeed, rooks in this 
respect are not a model for imitation. No sooner does one secure a choice 
mor.sel, and attempt to fly away to enjoy it at leisure, than he is pursued by some 
.six or eight others who try to deprive him of it, and often the “ tit-bit ” is dropped, 
and no one is the better for it. The wheelings and circlings of the birds during 
one of these chases are very graceful. This pursuit sometimes goes on when there 
is plenty more left behind, if the greedy pursuers would only help themselves, and 
leave their comrade alone. It is curious to observe the effort required to produce 
the familiar “caw.” The head is lowered, and the beak opened wide, while at 
the same moment the tail goes up wdth a jerk almost at right angles, and the 
feathers of it are spread out to their full width. The effort to produce this “ex- 
jiression of the emotions ” appears to convulse the whole of the bird’s frame. 
During the breeding season, when a perpetual cawing is kept up, a great deal of 
what seems unnecessary energy must be exercised. 
The Grange, Folkestone. A. L. Hussey. 
TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
E. M. D. — Mrs. Brightwen says that meal-worms are the larva; of a beetle 
( Tenebrio 7tiolitor) which lays its eggs in flour and meal ; they hatch into a cream- 
coloured shiny grub, much like a wireworm. They can be bought at most bird 
shops and stores, t>r at Whiteley’s, at tenpence a hundred. Millers will some- 
times sell them at about three or four .shillings a thousand. They are easily kept 
ready for use in a tin box filled with flour or oatmeal, with layers of flannel, on 
which they feed. 
Anon. — A small box unaccompanied by name or address of sender, contained 
a specimen of Nostoc commtine. 
Epping Forest.— Are no .Selbornians interested in Epping Forest, or 
resident in its neighbourhood ? We ask because, although a correspondence with 
regard to its management has been carried on in the press for several weeks, 
nothing on the subject has reached Nature Notes. 
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