No sooner were they gathered here, at the time when these
politic birds were building, than a stately old rook, who Master Simon
assured me was the chief magistrate of this community, would settle
down upon the head of one of the ewes, who, seeming conscious of this
condescension, would desist from grazing, and stand fixed in
motionless reverence of her august burthen; the rest of the rookery
would then come wheeling down, in imitation of their leader, until
every ewe had two or three of them cawing, and fluttering, and
battling upon her back. Whether they requited the submission of the
sheep, by levying a contribution upon their fleece for the benefit of
the rookery, I am not certain; though I presume they followed the
usual custom of protecting powers.
The latter part of May is the time of great tribulation among the
rookeries, when the young are just able to leave their nests, and
balance themselves on the neighbouring branches. Now comes on the
season of "rook shooting;" a terrible slaughter of the innocents. The
Squire, of course, prohibits all invasion of the kind on his
territories; but I am told that a lamentable havoc takes place in the
colony about the old church. Upon this devoted commonwealth the
village charges "with all its chivalry.
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