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ROOKS. 
and they were found dead under the trees % haying 
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 in- 
teresting writer, “ the Hook became a plunderer,” 
and dreadful havoc took place in the potato-fields, 
where whole lines were afterwards seen broken up, 
in consequence of the visits of suffering Hooks. 
We have before noticed the instinctive sagacity 
shown by Hooks, Jays, &c., in avoiding the approach 
of sportsmen, or other suspicious characters; and 
it would appear that they can with equal discrimi- 
nation discover, and attach themselves to friends. 
A clergyman who had a small rookery near his 
house, assured us, that when he walked near, or 
under the trees, they exhibited no signs of alarm ; 
but when a stranger approached, they were evidently 
uneasy, and manifested, by their loud cawings and 
movements, their wish for his departure. The fol- 
lowing anecdote is a still more convincing proof of 
this instinctive faculty. 
A farmer rented a farm in the county of Essex, 
some years ago, where he had not resided long, 
before a number of Hooks came and built their 
* Journal of a Naturalist. 
