The Rook—The Cuckoo—Lark and Woodlark—The Sparrow—Plague of Birds
CHAPTER III
“The flocking Rooks, by instinct’s native rule,
Each peaceful scene for their asylum choose.”
Shenstone.
ONCE upon a time rooks were called crows, and as the latter had a very evil reputation, the former suffered for it. Nor is the confusion still extinct, for unfortunately there are obstinate people in the world who will not understand that it makes any difference whether they use a right name or a wrong one. It will be very long before the water-vole ceases to be called a water-rat; but until that time comes, an innocent animal will continue to be persecuted for a guilty one. So with the honest rooks. There are plenty of people who insist on calling them crows, and having given the bird a bad name proceed to hang him up as a “scare-crow” to warn his useful relatives off the field which they would otherwise rid of wire-worms and grubs.
That rooks do some mischief is beyond doubt. When the ground is frost-bound, and it cannot persecute the farmer’s
