54 ON THE HABITS OF THE ROOK. 



of his digging is not such as to cause much abrasion. Thirdly, I have never 

 seen or hoard of a specimoi, not kept in confinement, in which this process 

 was taking phice; that is, the feathers damaged only by digging. Fourthly, 

 the operatioa of abrasion must be painful, and it must be continued; so that 

 the poor bird must be put to torture every time he digs deep after a worm 

 or a grub; and this I cannot but consider as inconsistent with the universal 

 tender-kindness of that Almighty Being, who has ordered him to seek so large 

 a portion of his food below the surface of the earth. Fifthly, the Carrion 

 Crow, and' the Jackdaw, which are also great diggers, never exhibit, as far 

 as I know, any signs of abrasion. Sixthly, the exact correspondence of the 

 line of denudation in all the specimens I have examined, points rather to 

 natural, than to artificial causes. 



We now come to the question, ^'What becomes of the young Rooks?" I have 

 already stated my belief that the greater part of those which live through 

 the first winter, leave the Rookeries in which they were reared. The cause 

 of this migration I suppose to be twofold: — First, instinct prompts them to 

 leave places already sufficiently occupied by their kind; and, secondly, the sort 

 of persecution they undergo in the building season (before noticed) from' the 

 old occupants of the Rookery compels them. These two causes appear to me 

 sufficient to account for their migration; and if they are admitted, it follows,, 

 that we must look to places as yet but thinly tenanted by these birds, for 

 their ultimate destination. I am told that Rooks are increasing in the fens; 

 but any one acquainted with that district, will at once see that it cannot 

 receive great additions, owing to the want of trees. 



I have obtained from my friend, Mr. Martin Curtler, of Browe, near 

 Worcester, an account of the foundation of a Rookery at Wareslcy, the 

 seat of the Dean of Worcester. He tells me, that in the year 1848, when 

 first the Rooks built at Waresley, there were two or three nests; in 1849, 

 tliere were sixteen or seventeen nests; and last year as many as three times 

 tliat number. This Rookery must, therefore, have received considerable 

 additions in each year since its establishment, from sources independent of 

 itself. But what a little way docs it go towards accounting for the numbers 

 that annually escape from the small district in the Wolds of Lincolnshire, 

 before mentioned! 



I did not set out with expressing a hope, that I should clear up the 

 difficulties I was about to state in the history and economy of the Rook; but 

 a collection of facts, and a comparison of theories, must tend towards that 

 desirable result. I will, therefore, at once conclude this already too lengthy 

 paper, by expressing my conviction that we must look to the observations, 

 not of those, who, like myself, live in a country already thickly tenanted by 

 the Rook; but of those, who have the opportunity of watching their spread 

 over districts, where this interesting bird is comparatively a stranger. I hope 

 that this notice may have the effect of directing the attention of persons in 

 the latter districts, to the questions relating to the denudation of the bill of 



