ROOKS. 
239 
We now come to a more important question re- 
specting Rooks ; in the settlement of which, the 
world is much divided. Are they beneficial or in- 
jurious to man ? Is the farmer a gainer or a loser, 
by being subjected to the daily visits of two or three 
hundred of these birds from a rookery? 
In former days, there can be no question of public 
opinion being entirely against them, and that the 
destruction of Rooks was regular and systematic; an 
inference which may be fairly drawn from the fol- 
lowing entry amongst certain presentments con- 
cerning the parish of Alderley, in Cheshire, in 1 598, 
being the fortieth year of queen Elizabeth's reign : 
“ We find that there is no Crow-nett in the parish, 
a payne that one be bought by the charge of the 
parish.” 
As in most cases, so in this, we are inclined to 
think that a great deal may be said on both sides; 
for, as the Rook cannot be altogether acquitted of 
the charge of doing some harm, so neither, is he to 
be found guilty of doing nothing but mischief. We 
will examine first, the unfavourable side. A Rook 
which we kept for some time, was, after a night's 
fast, fed entirely upon oats, of which it ate, in twenty- 
four hours, two ounces, of sixteen ounces to the 
pound ; while another, under similar circumstances, 
consumed two ounces and a half of bread. 
This certainly would bear strongly against them, 
was there nothing to be said in mitigation ; but it 
should be remembered, that the above consumption 
is founded upon the supposition, that Rooks lived 
entirely upon grain, which, so far from being the 
case, is very much the reverse ; for they prefer an 
