Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-12-01
QUEER ENGLISH ROCK
THE SPECIES OF FACT AND OF
FABLE,
Some of His Habits Which the Briton
Does Not UndeEstHnd-Say-
ing His Prayers.

ing His Prayers.
From the London Express. e.
| Though the brake fern has turned yellow,
here and there even brown-so sure a re-
| minder in the midst of the greens, of the
fall of the year-and the morning fogs are
heavy. there are often hours in October
which invite one to loiter for awhile about
the haunts of the birds. The gathering
places of swallows, plover and starting
naturally draw one at the present time of
year: but. no matter how familiar they be,
we need not forget the rocks in autumn.
1t is in the evening that the rock assem-
blages are so full of character just now.
Those who enter into the spirit of the thing
can go evening after evening in October
to the plantation of ancient elms and fir
trees where the rocks sleep without their
wonder in the roosting proceedings of these
eatures growing less
The evening uproar of the rocks is to
my mind, one Of the most fascinating
things in English bird life. A hundred and
twenty years ago the naturalist of Selborne
mentioned the scene in one of his letters to
DANES Darlington. He dwelt upon the tu-
multi of the birds just before dusk, when
they made the great down above his home
a rendezvous.
There they wheel round in the air and
sport and dive in a playful manner, all the
while exerting their voices, and making
loud cawng, which, being blended and
softened by the distance that we at the
village are below them, becomes a con-
fused noise or Gliding Often at sunset
one has watched that scene at distance
on an October or November day, and very
effective these black wings are, as seen
against the pale glow of the sky.
That is rOOk scene every country
dweller knows well; another is on the tenn
pestuous day when the birds are blown
about the skies over their nest trees; a
third is the coming home ''in long strings"
as White saw them, as light begins to
fall
Rocks at Their Prayers.
In Locksley Hall it Is many wintered
crow Chat Is, rook) that leads the
Changing rookery home" though one doubts
very much whether there is any good
ground for saying that the bird which
chances to be first in the string is particu-
larly aged On the contrary, 1t seems quite
as likely that he or she may be one of the
young birds Of the year which escaped the
rock rine last May.
But one should sometimes go nearer, and
under the dark nest trees listen for a
while to the rocks Saying their prayers"
as the little girl in the true spirit of
physico-theology, put 1t, though she was
too young to be aware that the Scriptures
have sad Of the Deity-that He feedeth the
ravens who call upon Him.
The scene beneath the rookery at this
time of year just before and for a little
while after dark is very curious. Some
naturalists have given careful records of
the times at which rocks revisit their nest
trees after the nesting season. Dates In
late June, at the end of October and in
December, are mentioned.
But l am sure that, in the case of many
rookeries at any rate. the birds roost in
and about their nest trees. during a great
part of the year Last May l noticed them
at about sunset above their nest trees on
the fateful rook-shooting day. 1t may have
been fancy, but it was my idea that on that
day their incesSant cries and uneasinesS as
they lowered for long above their homes
were full of mfsery-of that wild unrest
that lives in woe" l do not know whether
they actually slept in their nest trees that
night. round which they wheeled and how
cred with tumult. The idea that they were
lamenting over their missing young be-
came so painful that il was relief to leave
the spot.
But now, at and after dusk, there are
tumult and restlessness of intense ma
ture, though there is no cause to lament
their missing black children. For fully half
an hour the uproar continues; indeed, l
should say that from the time that the
rocks first arrive home to the time when
the hush is final and complete the period
of restlessness is often going on for an
hour.
Influence Of Night.
Long after the perching has been effected
"a perfectly simple business, surely, though
to us one ludicrously procrastinat ed-the
uproar continues. Multitudinous voices and
tones strike on the ear as one stands be-
meath the great trees in the dark. Among
these. one seems to recognize one that
sounds like 'carack, carack," like "car-r-r,
a sir ,1a trayD pa W
are various gurglings, too, and perfectly
tndescribable vocal odds and ends; while
every now and then jackdaws. which at
this time of year will both forage and sleep
with the rocks. cut in with perkier note.
A lady who is interested in birds, and has
watched the rocks, tells me she is sure the
birds are just showing one another, and
clamorfng for pet perches, to Wh1ch they
attach imaginary rights But though now
and then there are sounds of jostlng, and
explanations that you may be inclined to
regard as expostulary, there is clearly, L
think, something much less OBVIOUS under
lying this evening hymn In rookland. There
is a certain profound unrest, me cause OF
which has yet to be explained.
With human beings the influence of even
ing and of the oncoming night Is com
monty Scdattve. Night slides In on us, and
calms it dispeas the restlessness Of the
''pitiful day" Seemingly it Is otherwise
with some wild creatures that, with us, are
day-faring in habit.
ing time and the "cocketing' of the pleas
ants remind one little of the rock uproar
at the close of the day, but they are not
preceded by the rocks wheelings and toss
ings in the air. The outcry at bedtime of
the animals of various orders and species
in the geological gardens Is familiar TO
many people, but that is a babel caused by
the sounds of the day creatures which want
to go to sleep and the sounds of the night
prowling creatures, which In their wild
state would ordinarily be ON the move at
this hour.
The Rocks Unknown Life.
Standing under the trees at nightfall and
listening to the rocks one may realize how
little one knows. can ever hope to know;
of the inner lives Of the birds Our long
Latin names for them, our division and
subdivision of them into orders. and the
like, strike one at such time as pompous,
even absurdly useless. Here We are in the
midst of great gathering OF creatures,
which Is full of stirring life, yet we can
only watch and wonder: we cannot under
stand one word of what they say-and
they are saying (who could douh?l very
much-or of why theyaare so aroused
1t Is somewhat as though some beings
belonging to another world were watching
our connections in tfie midst of the cities