There is no more delightful sound in early spring than the “caw” of the Rooks at their “rookeries,” as their breeding places are called. Year after year they return regularly to the same clump of trees, on the tops of which they build a fairly substantial nest of sticks, with an inner foundation of mud which is in turn warmly lined with roots, straw, and fine grass. The sites chosen for their homes are more frequently than not near human habitations or on clumps of trees near a highway, and exceptionally, they may choose pollards or low bushes, but as a rule the nests are never less than twenty feet from the ground. The eggs are bluish, with olive brown spots and blotches resembling those of the Carrion Crow, but smaller and more variable.
The young leave the nest just before they can fly, and may then be seen sitting on the topmost branches of the trees as they sway in the wind. This is the time when they are shot for rook-pies, and also under the impression that if they are not thinned out the colony will be deserted. For this belief we are not aware that any proof exists, but curiously enough colonies left to themselves tend to diminish. These birds are rather capricious and will occasionally, even in the nesting season, desert the colony; the presence in the neighbourhood of a pair of Carrion Crows is sometimes the cause, but more often than not the reason is not apparent. As soon as the young can fly, towards the middle or end of May, the rookery is deserted: old and young keep together and wander about the fields and arable land, digging deeply with their powerful bills in search of larvæ and grubs, and destroying countless numbers of wire worms, that renowned pest to agriculture. In this country it does not migrate to any extent; certain plantations are used as regular roosting-places, and as evening draws on in the winter months, long strings of these birds may be seen slowly flying in their heavy characteristic manner to their nightly shelter. Although the flight appears heavy and laboured, they in reality travel at no mean pace, and in their daily search for food often cover great distances. As in the case of Jackdaws and Jays, there is a large immigration yearly on our east coast during October and November, for in Scandinavia and the northern portions of its breeding range it is a regular migrant. Throughout the whole of our islands it is a common bird, but is rather more local in Scotland, and it is only of recent years that it has regularly bred in the extreme north. From continual digging in the ground the feather follicles round the base of the bill become destroyed, leaving a whitish patch of bare skin which is an unfailing characteristic of the adult birds. In young individuals, however, the feathers extend to the base of the bill and do not appear to be permanently lost till during the second autumn moult. The sexes are alike; their colour is a uniform deep and glossy purplish blue. The young resemble their parents, but lack the gloss to their feathers. Length 19 in.; wing 12·65 in.
ROOK
Corvus frugilegus
Adult (right). Young (left)
THE SKYLARK
Alauda arvensis, Linnæus
Of all other birds the Lark is perhaps the one which typifies most thoroughly the freedom of life, and brings to our minds scenes of wide open country, where, bright, free, and unrestrained, he pours forth his song in the boundless expanse of the air.
Hatched in a neat nest of bents and dry grass lined with finer materials and placed on the ground in the middle of an open field, the youthful Lark has early to contend with enemies. Mice and other ground vermin, or the heavy foot of some grazing cattle, frequently destroy the nest and its contents, and the fact that so many escape must be largely ascribed to good luck.
His food is of a very varied nature and nothing comes amiss. The young are fed exclusively on insects, but after leaving the nest they spend their time eagerly feeding on seeds, berries, or anything that comes their way. As summer wanes, giving place to autumn, they collect in large flocks and seek the stubble fields, where the scattered grain gives them abundant nourishment, and on which they become very fat. It is at such times, while they are asleep by night, that they are netted by hundreds for the market. This form of catching can, however, only be successfully carried out shortly after dark on the blackest of nights, for, like all wild animals, they seem to rest with one eye open, and should there be the faintest glimmer of light they will be up and away long before the bird-catcher is near them. In October they become restless, and many wander to the coast, and thence to other countries, their place being taken by the inhabitants of more northerly climates. So the months pass, until a northerly gale and severe frost moves even these hardy northerners, and at such times they may be seen migrating in millions (for they travel almost entirely by day), relentlessly pursuing a southerly course in front of the biting norther. With a change of wind and temperature a large number will drift back again, but the movement will not be so noticeable, and thus they pass their lives, wandering wherever the weather and food may dictate, till in the very early days of spring, or even on fine days throughout the winter, we may hear their voluble song, breathing as it does the joy of freedom in every note. This is almost always uttered on the wing. Springing from the ground with rapid, fluttering wings, he rises perpendicularly higher and higher till he is almost lost to sight in the clouds, though his song still drifts down to us with unaffected clearness; higher and higher he goes, and then in a spiral curve he slowly descends, the song ceasing as he reaches a spot within a few feet of where he rose.
Nest-building is begun in April, and several broods are reared in a season, the song being continued except when he is actually feeding young in the nest.
The adult has the general plumage of a warm brownish tint, mottled and streaked with a darker shade. There is a light-coloured superciliary streak. The chin, throat, and upper breast and flanks are brownish buff streaked with brown, rest of under parts yellowish white. The sexes are alike in plumage but the female is rather smaller. Bird-catchers measure them from tip to tip of the expanded wings, rejecting those which are under one foot, as females. The young have the chin and throat unspotted, and have pale edgings to the feathers of the upper parts. Length about 7 in.; wing (of male) 4 to 5 in.