. The British bird book . the ground ; they un-earth young potatoes;they devour greenwalnuts. On the otherhand, they destroyenormous numbers ofsuch insect pests aswireworms, leather-jackets, and the grubs of the cock-chafer. These creatures live at theroots of cultivated plants, and causeenormous damage. They cannot befound and destroyed until the mis-chief is done. But Rooks pull themout of the ground literally in millions. And by so doingthey preserve us from losses far greater than those of whichthey themselves are the cause. They are curious birds, and in some ways are highlyintelligent. T
. The British bird book . the ground ; they un-earth young potatoes;they devour greenwalnuts. On the otherhand, they destroyenormous numbers ofsuch insect pests aswireworms, leather-jackets, and the grubs of the cock-chafer. These creatures live at theroots of cultivated plants, and causeenormous damage. They cannot befound and destroyed until the mis-chief is done. But Rooks pull themout of the ground literally in millions. And by so doingthey preserve us from losses far greater than those of whichthey themselves are the cause. They are curious birds, and in some ways are highlyintelligent. They have their own laws, for example, whichare strictly enforced. Young Rooks, when they first pair,are not allowed to nest where they please. They must nestin certain trees, which are regarded as belonging to the colony. If they do not, their homespieces, and they arebuild again,as a greatfor a Rook. ♦ are pulled toobliged todisregardedcrime, too,to steal a 22 stick from another Rooks nest. The punishment for thisis severe, and the offender is sometimes pecked to in other ways they are decidedly stupid. If a Rookdrops a stick, for example, on its way to its nest, it neverseems to think of picking it up again, but goes off to lookfor another. And if a sharp frost in autumn is followed bya day or two of bright and warmer weather, these birdsalways seem to think that spring has come, and set busilyto work to patch up their nests. These nests, unlike those of most birds, are used yearafter year. They are rather clumsily built, and are alwaysplaced in the upper branches of tall trees, where it is verydifficult to reach them. And each nest contains either four or five pale green eggs, blotchedwith olive and dark brown.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1921
