Carrion crows hold mysterious sway over rooks; a single pair of crows
will drive a great crowd of rooks from a rookery. Yet a crow, when
compared to a rook, does not seem to be much more powerful or armed
with a much more formidable beak. A casual observer would find little
difference between a rook and a crow in the hand. If a pair of crows
were pitted in a duel against a pair of rooks, the balance of power
would make the odds slightly in the crows' favour no doubt. But one
imagines the rooks would still have a sporting chance. Probably crows
have a black enough reputation among other birds to inspire a general
fear. And rooks are cowards. It is a common sight to see them put to
shameful flight by peewits or missel-thrushes when they have ventured
near the others' nesting-places. Yet a rook could kill a missel-thrush
or peewit if it had the pluck to fight. The gamekeeper knows that
the hissing and spitting of a sitting partridge will cause a rook to
approach her very cautiously. A jackdaw, one would say, has ten times
the spirit of a rook.
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