5. ROOKS.

'Look up, mamma, and see what a large flight of birds there is in the air-quite up; and they are all flying one way; they seem to me to be black, but they are so high up, I cannot see what they are like.'

Those birds, my dear, are rooks. They are now on their way home to their nests, and have, I dare say, been a long way seeking food for their young. They live on worms, grubs, and grain. They build their nests on the tops of high trees, such as the beech and elm; they make them of sticks and dry roots of grass: it takes three or four days to build a nest when they work hard; and, while one rook goes to fetch the sticks and grass, its mate sits close by on the tree watching the nest.

"The hen-bird lays four or five eggs, on which she sits till the young ones come out of the shell.

'Rooks live in flocks, and they will not let a strange rook come to live with them; if one should chance to come to build with them, they fall upon him in a rage, and

beat him, and drive him away. The old rooks often use the same nest from

year to year, mending it when it gets old. When the young ones are about to make their first nest, they choose with great care the bough on which to build; and, if they think the old rooks cannot see them, they will steal the sticks and grass from their friends' nests, to build their own with; but, as soon as the rest of the rooks find out the theft, they set to work to pull down the nest of the thief, who has all his work to do once more.

'Rooks live in the same place for years, and it is hard to drive them from the trees where they have once built. I have heard that, when these trees have been cut down, the rooks have been seen making their nests in them as they lay on the ground. When they go to feed, they will fly some miles in flocks, such as you see now, to a field where they can find the food they like. When they get there, some of the rooks perch themselves on the high trees near, to watch. As soon as one of these birds sees a man coming that way, he flies off the tree, and caws as loud as he can; then

up fly all the birds from the ground, and off they go in great haste.

They are so sly, that they seem to know that a gun will kill them; for a man with a gun in his hand has a hard task to get near them; but they do not seein to fear a stick; a man with a stick may walk up close to them.

'You have heard Tom say that he has been out to bolt rooks. This is a sport which some persons are fond of. When the rooks are young, too young to leave their nests, men take a cross-bow, and with a ball made of lead aim at them as they sit on the edge of their nests; the ball strikes them a hard blow, and kills them. Men use an air-gun as well as a cross-bow to kill rooks with. These bows and guns make no noise; if they did, the rooks would get into their nests, and could not be seen, for they soon take fright; but, as they hear no noise, they know no cause for fear: and, though they see their friends fall down, they cannot tell why, and they sit still to be shot at. Poor things! How sad the old rooks must feel when they come home at night, with food for their young, to find them dead or gone!'

6. THE OLD CROW.

'I WILL not go to school,' said little Tommy; 'I will stay in the fields and play all day long.'

It was the first of May, and the sun was shining, and the air smelt sweet, as it does in spring; so Tommy sat down on a soft bank under a tree, and threw his books into the hedge.

'I will not go to school,' he said again; 'this bank is softer than the form at school, and I like to see the lambs and flowers better than books and slates.'

Just as he said this, he looked up in the tree, and saw two old crows sitting there, and close by them a nest, very much like a bundle of sticks.

'Here's a pretty fellow!' said one of the crows; he says he won't go to school; here's a pretty dunce!' and the birds began to say, 'Caw! caw! caw!' as if they were laughing at Tommy.

'What! you do not like work?' said the crow again. Oh, you idle boy, you are worse than a bird! do you think I am idle?

Look at my nest; what do you think of it?'

'I dare say it is a very nice one,' said Tommy, but I should not like to live in it.'

'No, because you are only a boy, and not so wise as a crow,' said his new friend; and both the crows cried Caw! caw! caw!' again, as if they thought so too.

'Do you know why a crow is wiser than a silly boy?' asked the crow, putting his head on one side, and looking down at Tommy with his bright black eye.

'No,' said Tommy; I thought boys were wiser than crows.'

"You thought!' said the crow; 'a great deal you know about it. Can Can you build a house for yourself, pray?'

'No,' said Tommy; 'but when I am a man, I shall.'

'And why can't you do it now?' said the crow, turning his head to the other side, and looking at Tommy with the other eye.

'Why, I have not learnt,' said the little boy.

Ho, ho!' said the crow, flapping his