COUNTRY LIFE
Multitudinous Rooks Is there an increase in the number of rooks in England as most countrymen believe ? A certain controversy has arisen between humanitarians and game preservers on the subject ; and rival arguments are bandied without any ,conclusive result. Leaving aside the question of the inhumanity of shooting_ young rooks as they emerge from the nest, I may give some personal—and some vicarious— experiences. Rooks are immensely numerous round some of the refuse dumps. near London, and have in one place at any rate destroyed grain crops wholesale. In a dry season and in a late spring when there is no cover they will desert their usual habits and suck eggs, proving only less destructive than their cousin, the carrion crow. Excessive numbers. in any locality tend to a similar change in feeding habit. When this is said, all is said on the discredit side, so to say. In general the rook is beneficent, a greater destroyer of wireworm than of sown wheat, and we could ill spare him. The census. of nests, made by Mr. Roebuck of the Midland Agricultural College, is the best evidence (as emphasized by a writer in Cruel Sports) that there• is no general multi- plication ; and the conclusion arrived at many years ago by M. Svetozar, a great Hungarian ornithologist holds that the rook is a" friend till the companies become multitudinous, when the struggle for food drives him to evil courses.
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