200 
ROOKS. 
clearing the soil of the noxious worms, particularly of one 
called the pease -beetle [JBruchus pi-si). For no sooner were 
the birds destroyed, than the insects multiplied to such a 
degree, as to cause the total loss of the grass in 1749, when 
the colonists had to get their hay from Pennsylvania, and 
even from Great Britain.” 
We often hear persons congratulating themselves on a 
deep snow, a hard frost, or dry weather, as the surest means 
of destroying insects; whereas it is just the reverse. A hard 
frost, or a deep snow, or a dry summer, are the very best pro- 
tection they can have, and for this reason : the Rooks and 
other birds cannot reach that innumerable host which pass 
the greatest part of their existence under-ground. In vain 
the hungry Rook, in a hard frost, looks over a fine fallow, or 
a field of new- sown wheat. He may he seen sitting on a 
hare hough, like Tantalus, in the midst of plenty beyond his 
reach, with his feathers ruffled up, casting every now and then 
an anxious glance over the frozen surface, beyond the power 
of even his strong beak to penetrate. His situation is much 
the same in dry Springs or Summers, when he may he seen 
walking up and down by the sides of highways, picking up 
what he can get. In the hot Summer of 1825, many of the 
young broods of the season are reported to have been starved: 
the mornings were without dew, and consequently few or no 
earth-worms were to he obtained, and they were found dead 
under the trees, # having expired on their roostings. It was 
quite distressing, says an eye-witness, to hear the constant 
clamour of the young for food. The old birds seemed to 
suffer without complaint ; hut the wants of their famishing 
offspring were expressed by unceasing cries. Yet, amidst all 
this distress, it was pleasing to observe the perseverance of 
the old ones in the endeavour to relieve their perishing 
families; for many of them remained out, searching for food, 
long after their accustomed roosting -time; and then, adds this 
interesting writer, “ the Rook became a plunderer,” and 
dreadful havoc took place in the potato-fields, where whole 
Journal of a Naturalist. 
