ROOK. 25 



which escape partially disabled from their guns. It drops 

 molluscs and crabs to break them after the manner of the 

 Carrion. In the hard winter of 1 916-17, when birds suffered 

 so severely, a small party of Hoodies frequented a Cheshire 

 mere for many weeks, subsisting on the frozen gulls and Coots 

 which were littered over the ice. On coast cliffs the eggs of 

 Gulls, Cormorants and other birds are stolen when their owners 

 are absent, and it will enter the burrow of the Puffin with a 

 similar object. 



As a rule the nest is placed on or near the ground, on a cliff, 

 in heather or a low bush, but trees are occasionally used ; it 

 closely resembles that of the Carrion, but on the coast seaweed 

 is often interwoven in the structure. The four to six eggs are 

 of the usual crow type, very similar to those of the Carrion ; 

 they are laid as a rule early in April. 



Except for the head, throat, wings, tail and thigh feathers, 

 which are black and mostly glossy, the plumage is ash-grey, 

 the dark shafts giving it a streaky appearance ; where black 

 feathers mingle with the grey on the lower throat the streaky 

 appearance is more marked. The bill and legs are black ; the 

 irides dark brown. There is only one moult, in autumn, as in 

 other crows. The male is the larger bird, otherwise the sexes 

 are alike. When first hatched the young are much blacker 

 than the parents, according to Macgillivray, but in the juvenile 

 plumage brown rather than black predominates and the eyes 

 are "greyish-blue" (Witherby). Length, about 20 ins. Wing, 

 12*5 ins. Tarsus, 2"25 ins. 



Rook. Corvns frugilegiis Linn. 



Resident throughout our islands and showing partiality for 

 association with man, the Rook (Pia e 7) is our best known 

 and most respected crow. It nests in colonies close to our 

 houses ; it feeds in flocks in cultivated fields. Abroad it 



