WALNUT TREES ROBBED

Press, Volume LXX, Issue 21118, 20 March 1934, Page 9

WALNUT TREES ROBBED

.—_♦_ RAIDS MADE BY ROOKS INTERESTING OBSERVATIONS OF BIRD'S HABITS A number ei rooks winch have their home in some tall trees at St. Joseph's Orphanage, Addington, are now busy making periodical raids en orchards in the district. Their attentions have been confined mainly to walnuts, and in Lincoln road some trees bearing heavy crops have been practically stripped. Mr R. Nairn, of Lincoln road, has observed these depredations for a

number of years. He is of the opinion that the rooks, while doing some good in destroying vermin, at the same time do a tremendous amount of harm in the orchards. Yesterday M" Nairn showed a reperter from ''The Press" a tree growing in land adjoining his own property, which has been robbed of a great quantity of nuts by the birds. In proof of his contention that the rooks were responsible for the loss, while he was standing in the property discussing the matter several of them flew across from Lincoln road and alighted without

any hesitation on the tree, each, bird in turn removed a walnut and flew away, carrying the nut in its beak. "He is a Rook" .Mr Nairn wonders whether the colloquialism, "he is a rook" (generally applied to a robber of some soit 'who cannot be called by such a hard wurd). is derived directly from the ravages of the rook itself. There seems no doubt that the bird exhibits remarkable ingenuity and tenacity in its raids on the nut nets. "Unaor practically any walnut tree near a rookery at the present time can be found hundreds of not quite fully matured nuts, which have been wrenched off by a sharp beak, with the green fleshy jacket removed to let the bird reach the kernel. For some reason the nuts which prove too young are not taken away; nor does the bird attempt to eat them. His tastes seem to lie in the riper nut, with a correspondingly sweeter kernel.

Dropped on a Road

This desire for the more matured nut presents a problem which. humans can solve only by the use of a nut-cracker. The rook has a very natural solution. If the shell proves too hard for his extremely sharp beak, he flies high above the earth and drops the walnut. It falls with such force from a great height that the shell breaks, and the kernel is exposed for eating. Mr Nairn and other observers have seen rooks, carrying the nuts either in their claws or beaks, fly up above Lincoln road in the early morning and drop the nuts on the bitumen surface with the desired effect. The birds try the same experiment on open paddocks and fields. It is possible at the present time to go in to any of the large fields jin the vicinity of the Addington i trotting grounds and gather basketI fuls of nuts which have failed to ! break, resisting the efforts of perhaps more than one bird. Residents who live near the rookery hear the harsh cries of the rooks in the early morning, and state that the birds quarrel almost continuously for the possession of the nuts. Some observers, watching the rooks as fhey fly high into the air to drop the nuts, have expressed astonishment at the grace and rapidity with which they drop down again.

A Heavy Breakfast The first flight to the orchards is made in the early morning, about 7 o'clock at the present time. There are occasional minor raids during the day, and a more concentrated one again in the late afternoon; but it is during the morning visit that the greatest damage is done. Other fruit attracts the rooks if nuts are scarce, and Mr Nairn said yesterday that he had seen them actually digging potatoes from the ground. If the walnuts cannot be pulled from the trees, the rooks will pick off the fleshy covering and endeavour, sometimes with success, to take only the nut itself. If this cannot be done, an effort will be made to pick the kernel out on the tree. One of Mr Nairn's men has been particularly interested in the habits of rooks for a number of years. He observed that whenever a raid is made by the birds, one seems to act as a sentinel, standing high on a tree or well out from the other birds in a paddock, quick to warn them of the approach of any danger 1 i i m il ci man

Nature's Tragedies 1 i i i ch id \ nidi was jni 1 e cid-u t! ere recently i ecu el a Ua^id 1 , \ hich affected - i cr]r \ "-Uungtly. One of 1 c 1 cl= du i ff aiad on the nuts, c *-o c t tvlcd i the small 1 ches c l ie tice that it was i ' 1 c c i e nd died. From t ti it i l V i eatn the rooks have ii-1 tl e c na the walnuts 'in i i ie ii ia\ e been left i O! l\i h\e 1 ept a close ti i c 1 t' i curie declopi e *■ d tl e <? ate emphari- (- I ti ' i i J c bird has i' -, tc 1 ( t tumi ce the death < the n n The rn s j \ üb] fly in a tia Jit 1 ic irom il c rookery to ti i tice tic mttrd to rob. They hi e been ot cued to wait, while hovering with a nut above a roadi\ uiil ip] niching traffic has i ed IK L to be able to i ti * it i i \ drut trees from -ii 1 it t ipui_n»ly without In mi kc\ cd B c of the prec a f iv tin It "-corns certain t t to ui ei OT.C- the possesi t e i mi t 1 e • are taken he e - u 1 but on the i <urage the i i by a d--i. in the fine i tin IFi i f i i .hich were >■ i i i ll >ecnt will of <- 11 i i carry out i i <- in that l'li t resident of i i ic i f unbroken i i large field i ili this it is c ilive ciep.x-