THE CAWING OF ROOKS 37 



knows that the rook differs from the crow in habit 

 and color, in the loss (after the first year) of the 

 feathers round the back of the beak, and so on, 

 but it is instructive, as an illustration of the way in 

 which specificity penetrates through and through 

 a creature, that while the inside of the mouth is 

 always pale flesh-color in the young of the carrion- 

 crow, it is first dark flesh-color and then slaty in 

 the rook. 



In many parts of the country it has been the 

 custom to watch the rooks with particular interest 

 at Easter-time, for from the manner of their flight 

 and the mood of their cawing, hints of coming events 

 were believed to be obtainable. But most of those 

 who watch rooks to-day find sufficient interest 

 in their present and past. We wish one of those 

 ornithologists who give us admirably intimate 

 studies of the "Home Life" of particular birds 

 would make a detailed critical study of the rook. 

 There are so many points of great interest. Like 

 many creatures well endowed with brains, rooks 

 exhibit what must be called play. There are gambols 

 and sham-fights, frolics and wild chases, in which, 

 curiously enough, jackdaws and lapwings sometimes 

 become keenly interested. But who knows the 

 real truth about rooks posting sentinels, which is so 

 often alleged ? What has been called the " ecclesias- 

 tical air " of the rook, enhanced by the white about 

 the head, gives spice to an apparent humorousness, 

 and there is no doubt of their wisdom. But who 

 knows the significance of the vast congregations 



