fondling, tremulous voice and fluttering wings, and all the little blandishments that are expressed by 'the young while in a helpless state, and that this 'gallant deportment of the male is continued through the whole season of incubation.'

I must, however, add that my friends the rooks are somewhat given to thieving, and I am afraid that if both the birds left the nest at the same time, some of the other members of the community would soon deprive them of those sticks which they had collected with so much trouble. One of the birds is, therefore, always left to protect their property.

Rooks feed on various kinds of food, as well as worms. They are sad depredators on my cherry trees, attacking them early in the morning, and carrying off great quantities. They will also eat potatoes and pears, taking them away in their beaks. The grub of the cockchafer, however, seems to be their favourite food, and their search for it, especially in old mossy grass fields, may be seen by the little tufts of moss which are pulled up by them and scattered about. Their power of discovering this caterpillar by the scent is very extraordinary. A gentleman once shewed me a field which had all the appearance of having been scorched, as if by a burning sun in dry hot weather. The turf peeled from the ground as if it had been cut with a turfing spade, and we then discovered that the roots of the grass had been eaten away by the larvæ of the cockchafer, which were

found in countless numbers at various depths in the soil. This field was visited by a great quantity of rooks, though there was no rookery within many miles of the neighbourhood, who turned up and appeared to devour the grubs with great satisfaction.

Rooks are fond of company, the jackdaw and even the starling being allowed to associate with them, and a mutual good understanding seems to exist amongst them. Even the sparrow is sometimes allowed to build its nest under the protection of that of a crow.

Wilson, in his American Ornithology, says that crows have been employed to catch crows by the following stratagem :-A live crow is pinned by the wings down to the ground on his back, by means of two sharp forked sticks. Thus situated, his cries are loud and incessant, particularly if any other crows are within view. These, sweeping down about him, are instantly grappled and held fast by the prostrate prisoner, with the same instinctive impulse that urges a drowning person to grasp at every thing within his reach. The game being disengaged from his clutches, the trap is again ready for another experiment; and by pinning down each captive successively, as soon as taken, in a short time you will probably have a large flock screaming above you, in concert with the outrageous prisoners below*.

* This method of catching crows is, I believe, practised in some parts of England to catch jays, who make a most violent outcry when pinned to the ground,

The same author mentions an agreeable instance of attachment in a crow. A gentleman, who resided on the Delaware, a few miles below Easton, had raised (reared) a crow, with whose tricks and 'society he used frequently to amuse himself. This 'crow lived long in the family, but at length disap'peared, having, as was then supposed, been shot by some vagrant gunner, or destroyed by accident. About eleven months after this, as the gentleman, one morning, in company with several others, was standing on the river shore, a number of crows hap'pening to pass by, one of them left the flock, and flying directly towards the company, alighted on the gentleman's shoulder, and began to gabble away 'with great volubility, as one long absent friend 'naturally enough does on meeting with another, On recovering from his surprise,, the gentleman instantly recognized his old acquaintance, and endeavoured, by several civil, but sly manoeuvres, to < lay hold of him; but the crow, not altogether relishing quite so much familiarity, having now had a ⚫ taste of the sweets of liberty, cautiously eluded all

his attempts; and suddenly glancing his eye on his 'distant companions, mounted in the air after them, * soon overtook and mingled with them, and was 6 never afterwards seen to return.'

The crow seems to be even more unpopular in America than he is in this country. Mr. Wilson says, that he is there branded as a thief and a plun

derer; a kind of black-coated vagabond, who hovers over the fields of the industrious, fattening on their labours, and, by his voracity, often blasting their expectations. Hated as he is by the farmer, watched and persecuted by almost every bearer of a gun, who all triumph in his destruction, had not Heaven bestowed on him intelligence and sagacity, far beyond what is common in other birds, there is reason to believe that the whole tribe would long ago have ceased to exist.

Mr. Wilson seems to think that the American and European crows are the same species.

The average number of rooks' nests, during the last four years, in the avenue of Hampton Court Park, has been about 750. Allowing three young birds and a pair of old ones to each nest, the number would amount to 3750. They are very particular that none of their society build away from the usual line of trees. A pair of rooks did so this spring, and when their nest was nearly finished, at least fifty others came and demolished it in a few minutes. Rooks may be seen teaching their young to fly as soon as they leave the nest, advancing a little way before, and calling upon them to follow. These short flights are incessantly repeated, till the young ones have acquired sufficient strength and skill to follow the old birds.

Crows sometimes choose odd places to build in, and where we should hardly have expected to find

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the nest of a bird of such social habits. Dr. Mitchell says that a few years ago a pair of crows built their nest between the wings of the dragon of Bow Church in London. They remained there till the steeple required repairs. He adds, that the same or another pair have this spring built their nest on the top of a large plane tree in Wood-street, close to Cheapside. Last season a hawk built its nest under the dome of St. Paul's, and a similar occurrence took place about forty years ago. Another of the falcon tribe had its nest, a few years ago, in the top of the steeple of Spitalfields Church.

Colonel Montague mentions an instance of great sagacity in crows. He observed two of them by the sea-shore, busy in removing small fish beyond the flux of the flowing tide, and depositing them just above high-water mark, under the broken rocks, after having satisfied the calls of hunger.

Mr. Hone, in his Every Day Book, has introduced an agreeable anecdote respecting a rookery on some high trees behind the Ecclesiastical Court, in

Doctor's Commons. Some years ago there were 'several large elm trees in the college garden behind the Ecclesiastical Court, in Doctors' Commons, in ' which a number of rooks had taken up their abode, forming, in appearance, a sort of convocation of ' aërial ecclesiastics. A young gentleman, who 'lodged in an attic, and was their close neighbour,

frequently entertained himself with thinning this