324 
STRANGE DWELLINGS . 
The foundation of the nest is composed of sticks of various 
sizes and lengths, all, however, being tolerably light and dry, 
the Rook generally carrying up the dead branches that have 
been blown down by the winds of the preceding winter. These 
are usually interlaced among the spreading branches of a con- 
venient spray, and thus form a rude basket-work, in which will 
lie the softer materials on which the eggs and young are to 
repose. The lining is composed almost entirely of long and 
delicate fibrous roots, which are intertwined, so as to make an 
interior basket very similar in general construction to the twig 
basket of the exterior, and being so independent of it that, 
with a little care, it can be lifted out entire. 
On this soft bed are laid the eggs, which are four or five in i : 
number, and are rather variable in colour, the usual tint being 
greenish grey, largely spotted, mottled, and splashed with dark 
brown, in which a shade of green is visible. They vary in size 
as well as in hue, and from the same nest I have taken eggs of 
so different an aspect that a casual observer would probably 
think them to be the production of distinct birds. 
The principal labours of nest-building fall on the young 
birds, inasmuch as the elders mostly return to the same 
domicile every successive season, and are seldom obliged to 
make an entirely new nest. The young builders are sometimes 
aggrieved at this distribution of labour, and try to equalize it 
by helping themselves to the sticks belonging to other pro- 
prietors. The general community, however, never suffer theft 
to be perpetrated, and are sure in such a case to scatter the ill- 
gotten materials, and force the dishonest birds to begin their 
labours anew. 
When the young are launched upon the world and able to 
get their own living, the nest is used no more, but is abandoned 
both by parents and young, not to be again used until repaired 
in the spring of the following year. It is a curious point in the 
economy of the Rook, that, when it has abandoned its tem- 
porary home, it does not choose to repose among the trees on 
which the nest was made. Mr. Waterton, who possesses in- 
valuable opportunities for studying the habits of this bird, and 
