. Birds and their nests and eggs : found in and near great towns . not an idle query, for it is a common thingboth in towns and in the country to see largebirds entirely black flying about, and wecall them all crows. In the first place,wlien you see such a bird the great proba-bility is that it is a rook, for they are verycommon, and often construct the well-knownrookeries, a familiar sight within the pre-cincts of a town. They build their nests in the topmostforks of the tallest trees, elms if available,because the top branches are convenientlyforked and do not obstruct flight. The birdswill
. Birds and their nests and eggs : found in and near great towns . not an idle query, for it is a common thingboth in towns and in the country to see largebirds entirely black flying about, and wecall them all crows. In the first place,wlien you see such a bird the great proba-bility is that it is a rook, for they are verycommon, and often construct the well-knownrookeries, a familiar sight within the pre-cincts of a town. They build their nests in the topmostforks of the tallest trees, elms if available,because the top branches are convenientlyforked and do not obstruct flight. The birdswill come down on the grass at nestingtime. Their mode of progression should benoted—they walk, whereas the carrion crowgenerally hops. The males may sometimesbe seen here, feeding the females and theyoung. Here, too, you can often get aclose view of the birds during nesting time ;under other circumstances you can rarely getnear them. They may be observed flyingfrom place to place in search of food or goingto water at all seasons and times, but chiefly MID-APRIL 77. Plate XXIV : * The birds^ will often come down onthe grass or meadows near their nests. Youngrook before it has the white face (J size). in the early morning, when they set out forthe day to feeding grounds ; they do not 78 MID-APRIL fail to spot a newly ploughed field, though itmay be some miles away. They returnslowly and tired, to roost in the evening,seldom or never alone. They may have tocontend with a head wind, its directionhaving changed since they started out in themorning; or a gale may have blown up, inwhich case their tacking methods are veryinteresting to watch. But despite all thedifficulties which they may encounter, theytime their return journey so as to be sure ofgetting home at, or just before, dark. The Jackdaw is a smaller bird than therook, being about fifteen inches long, whilstthe rook measures eighteen or more inchesfrom tip of beak to tail. The rooks caw isalmost as familiar to us as the cocks
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