2-888-608 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Rook-Shooting in Penshurst Park, 1850. Killing birds at '...Penshurst, situated in the Weald of Kent...By the second week in May the young rooks have acquired sufficient maturity to become the proper quarry of such as take their pleasure in the marksman's art...The gun is the only instrument that they are seen to use in their pastime; but rifles, air-guns, and cross-bows also constitute the arms of rook-shooters..."There is one trait," says a naturalist, "in the character of the rook, which is, I believe, peculiar to the bird, and which does him no little credit. It is the distress they exhibit when one of them has been killed or wounded by a gun. Instead of being scared away by the report, and leaving their wounded or dead companion to his fate, they show the greatest anxiety and sympathy for him, uttering cries of distress, and plainly proving that they wish to render him assistance".' From "Illustrated London News", 1850.