A TAME ROOK [To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—If
you have a little space to spare in your paper, " M. N. B." may be interested to hear that I also have a young rook that plays ball and tug-of-war, and sits on my shoulder or knee and has his meals ; he is very fond of cheese and meal worms. I have had many rooks my devoted com- panions. One, a well-known talker, soon learned to speak the following words quiet distinctly : " Good-bye." " Kiss me." " What is it, Jim Crow ? " &c. I never actually taught him to talk, because I had no idea rooks could do so, but when I left him after feeding him I used to say, " Good-bye." He talked very softly in quite a human voice, a tone very different from his natural " caws " and " aws." The art appears to involve the inflation of the lower mandible. These birds, in spite of their life-long persecution, are easily tamed, and develop an amazing response of mind to mind. Their affections are given once for all ; they do not as a rule love more than one person, however kind others may be—if once they have made a decided
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