Nif Mr. Guy war hirch avaur,
A now war hircher still:
Tha plunder o' tha highwâmen
Hiz coffers went ta vill.
In sâfety Mr. Guy rawd whim;
A ôten tawld tha storry.
Ta meet wi' jitch a rig myzel
I shood'n, soce, be zorry.
THE ROOKERY.
The rook, corvus frugilegus, is a bird of considerable intelligence, and is, besides, extremely useful in destroying large quantities of worms and larvæ of destructive insects. It will, it is true, if not watched, pick out, after they are dibbled, both pease and beans from the holes with a precision truly astonishing: a very moderate degree of care is, however, sufficient to prevent this evil, which is greatly overbalanced by the positive good which it effects in the destruction of insects. It is a remarkable fact, and not, perhaps, generally known, that this bird rarely roosts at the rookery, except for a few months during the period of incubation, and rearing its young. In the winter season it more commonly takes flights of no ordinary length, to roost on the trees of some remote and sequestered wood. The Elm is its favorite, on which it usually builds; but such is its attachment to locality that since the incident alluded to in the following Poem took place the Rooks have, many of them, built in fir trees at a little distance from their former habitation. The habits of the Rook are well worthy the attention of all who delight in the study of Natural History.
My zong is o' tha ROOKERY,
Not jitch as I a zeed
On stunted trees wi' leaves a veo,
A very veo indeed,
In thic girt place thâ Lunnun câll;—
Tha Tower an tha Pork
Hâ booäth a got a Rookery,
Althaw thâ han't a Lork.
I zeng not o' jitch Rookeries,
Jitch plazen, pump or banners;
Bit town-berd Rooks, vor âll that, hâ,
I warnt ye, curious manners.
My zong is o' a Rookery
My Father's cot bezide,
Avaur, years âter, I war born
'Twar long tha porish pride.
Tha elms look'd up like giants tâll
Ther branchy yarms aspread;
An green plumes wavin wi' tha wine,
Made gâ each lofty head.
Ta drâ tha pectur out—ther war
At distance, zid between
Tha trees, a thatch'd Form-house, an geese
A cacklin on tha green.