Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 August 1884 — The Rook. [ARTICLE]

The Rook.

This bird is not very well known in America, because he is an English bird. But he is very much like the crow, which our farmer boys know so well. Rooks live in colonies, many thousands going off together and building their nests in the tops of neighboring trees. In these bird-towns, or rookeries, there seem to be certain laws which all the birds understand and obey. One of these laws is that no rook shall build a nest within the limits of the town except those born*there; and another forbids the young rooks from going out of town to build. If any bird disobeys these laws, the other birds promptly tear down his nest and drive him back to his native town. They are also said to hold courts for the trial of offenders. The birds assemble upon a few trees, the guilty one sitting by himself, with drooping dead; and after much croaking and Hying hither and thither, which we may imagine is their way of examining the witnesses, and hearing the pleas of advocates, the charge of the judge, and the verdict of the jury, the birds fall upon the culprit, and execute the sentence of death, or whatever the penalty may be.— Our Dumb Animals.