Country Life
JACKDAWS and starlings may be a nuisance in the chimneys and eaves, but on the grass field the starling takes a large number of insects, just as he helps to rid an infected sheep of his parasites. I watched jackdaws doing the same job the other day. One doesn't see jackdaws on the backs of sheep quite so often as starlings, but members of a large flock of daws were feeding on the grass hill among the sheep when I noticed two or three birds flying up to perch on the ewes. At first one bird would pick over the sheep's back, pecking in the wool at the animal's head and working along the spine, and then another bird, eager to share in the feast of ticks, would fly up and try to steal the perch. This usually made the ewe uneasy and she would' move, but there was great competition while the tick-hunting went on. Now and then, when one of the jackdaws put its feet on a tender spot near the sheep's eyes, the creature tossed its head and displaced its benefactor. I was amused at the sight until something put the birds to flight, and the sheep that had been standing upright, seemingly to allow the tick-hunting to go on, resumed their grazing once more.
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