17 MAY 1913, Page 17

[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]

SIE,—I was living last year in a house where there was a rookery in the garden. Some lime trees grew close up to the windows, and I used frequently to watch the rooks peeling off" the bark in long strips. They carried these away to their- nests : the inside of the bark of a lime tree is white, soft, mai

fibrous in texture, and it may be that the birds use only this in building, discarding the outer rind. Unfortunately I am not sufficiently agile to climb up and ascertain whether this be so. Perhaps, again, there are insects inside the bark, and this may be the cause of the stripping operations; but that rooks were responsible there is, at least in this case, no doubt