Chirps and 
Chatter. 
THE BIRD WORLD. 
Rook Whimsicalities. 
The Rook, like all the birds, with 
cone-shaped bills, is nothing if not 
sagacious and cunning. When he 
begins nest-building he will not go to 
the trouble of gathering his own sticks 
if he can steal his neighbour’s when the 
latter is off guard, and he is very par¬ 
ticular also about the site for his home. 
So fond is he of society that instances 
are not wanting where a long-established 
rookery near a mansion has been 
deserted by these birds when the house 
has been unoccupied or been taken 
down. 
His Own House Seeker. 
At the same time most Rooks will 
not allow anyone to choose their habitat 
for them. An instance happened where 
a wealthy captain of industry, living in 
a beautifully secluded residence, sought 
to add to the attractiveness of the place 
by inviting the Rooks to live in the 
overshadowing trees. A bunch of fine 
elms were enclosed within wire netting, 
and a few pairs of Rooks were intro¬ 
duced and kept confined there for months 
in the hope that they and their progeny 
would eventually settle down. When 
it was thought that the birds had become 
sufficiently enamoured of their surround¬ 
ing, the netting was withdrawn; but to 
the chagrin of the experimentalist, the 
sable beauties so appreciated their 
liberty that they quickly flew away. 
A Strange Sequel. 
The sequel to this attempt to confine 
them was stranger still, for immedi¬ 
ately the owner of the mansion died the 
Rooks took a liking for the elms they 
had previously refused to settle in, and 
the rookery remains to this day. I do 
not suggest, of course, that the two 
events had any real connection; the re¬ 
turn of the Rooks was a coincidence, 
and nothing more. The Rook is 
associated in the minds of some people 
with the weather, for when he flies low 
we are told to expect rain, while his 
tumbling in mid-air is said to indicate 
high winds. 
Plume Trade Iniquities. 
The Audubon workers of the United 
States have just won a legal battle in 
Louisiana which it is believed has 
established a precedent upon which 
milliners in all but eight of the States 
may be fined for the sale or possession 
of the plumes of the Herons and Egrets 
of Florida. Judge Chretien, of the First 
City Criminal Court of New Orleans, 
sentenced a millinery store proprietor to 
a fine of fifty dollars or thirty days’ im¬ 
prisonment for this offence, adding that 
the remote feeding grounds of the birds 
made it impossible to detect persons 
committing cruelty, and to meet the case 
sellers and wearers would be held 
responsible. The case was taken to the 
Supreme Court, which has affirmed the 
decision, holding that the prohibition of 
the statute being against the killing of 
non-game birds, the act of buying them 
is included, for “ the principal cause of 
killing is the consideration received for 
the killing.” Those who buy the 
plumes of the birds must be held to 
know that by buying they hold out in¬ 
ducement to hunt them and shoot them. 
This is just the point on which it seems 
impossible to convince the average 
woman when an attempt is made to 
convince her of her responsibility for 
the iniquities of the plume trade. The 
Audubon Societies intend to follow up 
this judgment with prosecution of offend¬ 
ing milliners in every State where their 
model law is in force. 
Bobbie as a Book Lover. 
At Newport, Fife, a Robin has taken 
up its abode in one of the bedrooms of 
a house, and successfully hatched its 
young. It began building its nest on 
some books on a shelf; but as the 
books were being ruined, a box was 
placed in a corner of the bookcase, and 
the sticks etc., were carefully placed in 
it. The Robins seemed to have been well 
satisfied with the change, and success¬ 
fully reared five young ones in the nest. 
The old birds had a busy time feeding 
their little ones, and seemed to be quite 
at home, though the room was in con¬ 
stant use. 
