THE JACKDAW. 
poor jack, the cook happened to have a ladle full of hot fat 
in her hand when she made the discovery, and ejaculating 
“ Yon rogue ! you go to the cockles, do you !” threw it over 
him. The result was, that all the feathers were scalded off 
his head, and he went about the house, a bald jackdaw. Some 
time after, the master of the house gave a party, and among 
the guests was one whose head was nearly bereft of hair. In 
the afternoon the jackdaw was had upstairs to afford diversion 
to the company, and presently, ahghting on the mantel-shelf, 
he espied the man with the bald head. At once he flew on to 
his shoulder, and cocking his eye at the naked cranium, ex- 
claimed, “ You rogue ! you go to the cockles, do you !” 
He is, perhaps, not quite so mischievous a bird as the mag- 
pie or raven, but still the jackdaw must plead guilty to a large 
share of misdemeanours, executed with a marvellous degree of 
cunning. Take the story of the poaching jackdaw, a sad 
rascal, whose exploits are mentioned by an eminent naturalist. 
He says : “ A jackdaw belonging to one of my friends was a most 
inveterate poacher, having taken to himself an associate or ac- 
complice in the person of the cat belonging to the house. This 
oddly matched couple used to make their egress and ingress 
through a hole in the bottom of a very thick quickset hedge, 
and as soon as they merged into the open fields, would imme- 
diately hunt for game. Their mode of catching and killing 
game was not clearly ascertained, but its successful result was 
evident, from the frequency with which they used to bring 
home dead hares, often as large as the cat, but generally small. 
On one occasion, a singular fluttering of wings and scratching 
of claws was heard in the hedge, and when the owner of the 
two animals went to ascertain its cause, he found that they had 
brought home a hare so large, that they could not drag it 
through the hole in the hedge, and were quite frantic in their 
eagerness to attain their object ; the cat pulling from within, 
and the jackdaw pushing from without.” 
The naturalist Wood, one of the most observant and pleasant 
of writers, tells a story of a jackdaw who had a curious predilec- 
tion for lighting lucifer matches, and was continually putting 
the house in commotion by his incendiarism ; “ of which amuse- 
ment,” says the naturalist, “ he was as fond as any child. On 
one occasion he lighted the kitchen fire in the course of the 
night. The cook had laid the fire overnight, intending to apply 
the match early in the morning. The jackdaw contrived to get 
hold of the lucifer-box, and had evidently rubbed the match 
42 
