220 THE BIRDS OF KENT 



EOOK. 



Corvus frugilegus, Linntens. 8.N.^ i., p. 156 (1766). 

 Eook, Boys, 1792. 



The Kook is extremely abundant throughout the 

 county, and in the autumn and winter may be observed 

 in hundreds on all the pastures, especially among the 

 cattle and flocks of sheep. During this season they 

 travel long distances from the rookeries and visit the 

 marshes and sea-coast, but in spring they usually keep 

 to the land surrounding the rookeries until the young 

 are able to follow their parents. There is scarcely a park 

 or private plantation in Kent without its rookery, which 

 are too numerous to be given here. They nearly always 

 select the highest elms for the nests, and in a position of 

 perfect safety, but occasionally they have been known 

 to take possession of large isolated Scotch fir trees. 



Mr. A. Skinner {Zoologist, 1869) mentions a variety of 

 the Kook : " As I was walking round Chilham Park one 

 day in the summer (1868),! perceived something black on 

 the road, which proved to be a dead Eook with a white 

 throat, besides the ordinary black plumage." 



A curious instance of the Eooks having neglected a 

 certain district, and then taking it up, is given by Mr. G. 

 Dowker in his Birds of East Kent: " The Eooks have of 

 late taken up their abode in this parish, why or where- 

 fore they never came before I cannot imagine, there 

 being a toll of elm trees on the glebe next the church, 

 which the late Eector kept most carefully secluded ; and 

 he was most anxious to get a rookery. However, the 

 Eooks never came till just after his death, a few years 

 ago. With the new Eector came the Eooks, though 



