202 
ROOKS. 
in a clnmp of trees, and proceeded to build ; there they have 
continued ever since, the number of nests increasing as fol- 
lows. In 1828, there were seven nests ; in 1829, nine ; in 
1830, thirteen ; in 1831, twenty- four ; in 1832, thirty-three ; 
in 1833, upwards of fifty ; and in this latter year, there was a 
proportionate increase, with colonies settling in adjacent trees. 
Another instance of unaccountable removal from an accustomed 
place of resort, occurred within the last few years, in a com- 
paratively small rookery in the Palace Garden, in the city of 
Norwich. For several years the birds had confined their 
nests to a few trees immediately in front of the house, when 
one season, without any assignable cause, they took up a new 
position on some trees, also in the garden, but about two hun- 
dred yards distant, where they remained till the Spring of 
1847, when, before their nests were completed, or young 
hatched, they disappeared altogether, and the heretofore fre- 
quented trees are only now and then resorted to by a few stray 
casual visitors. 
It has been said, that Rooks usually prefer elm-trees for 
building, and it was observed, that in a mingled grove of 
horse-chesnuts and elms, at Hawley, in Kent, not a single 
nest was ever built in the horse-chesnut-trees, though the 
elms were full of them. In the above instance, however, 
they certainly gave the oak a preference, leaving an elm- 
tree close at hand untenanted. These birds, like the rest 
of their species, return at a particular time in Autumn ; 
and for a few days seem to be very busy about their 
nests, as if preparing them for immediate use ; and then 
desert them for the Winter : no reason has been discovered 
for this singular habit, peculiar, it is believed, to Rooks. May 
it not probably arise from an instinctive feeling, that as the 
nests will be wanted early in the Spring, a few repairs may 
be requisite to strengthen and prevent their being shattered 
or blown to pieces by the storms of Winter ; and that, 
according to the homely proverb of “ the stitch in time saving 
nine,” they may thus be saving themselves a greater degree 
of labour than they could easily bestow, when the trees are 
again to be occupied ? Most other birds are under no ne- 
