ROOK. 
229 
tion—for I have no wish to do them more than justice— 
their consumption of the seed-corn had been very con¬ 
siderable. This was, however, during a season which, 
remarkable for its drought, had caused a scarcity of their 
usual food, and was a rare instance, there being no notice 
of this habit of the Rook of which I am aware, with the 
exception of one during the same spring, in the Maga¬ 
zine of Natural History. I had occasion to visit a rookery 
for the purpose of obtaining varieties of the eggs to 
draw; and, when looking out for the tree which pre¬ 
sented the fewest difficulties to climb, I was much sur¬ 
prised by observing the ground beneath them strewed 
with pellets composed of the shell of the oat, and similar 
to those disgorged by owls. In quantity they would have 
filled some bushels; but it must be remembered that 
these were gathered from many a hundred acres round. 
The time at which the Rook meets with the bitterest 
persecution is just when it is doing the greatest good; 
and, when mercilessly shot down by the ignorant farmer, 
is heaping coals of fire on his head. 
I remember once having pointed out to me by a farmer, 
who lives near Alnwick, one of his fields which was then 
black with Rooks ; and, to prove to me the mischief they 
were doing him, he led me to the spot. It was a grass 
field, and, sure enough, the place bore evidence of de¬ 
struction ; its lovely green was gone, and scarcely a blade 
of grass remained standing. The Rooks had pulled up 
the entire surface of the already dead turf, and were re¬ 
galing themselves upon the myriads of grubs which now 
lay beneath it, which had done all the mischief by eating 
the roots of the grass asunder; and, but for the timely 
interference of these useful birds, another summer’s in¬ 
crease of their ranks would have enabled them to carry 
devastation far and wide. 
