98 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



good service also by feeding on the caterpillars of the 

 Ofik-moth, Hyhernia defoliaria [Zool., 1887, p. 109). 



Rooks rarely build in poplars, which are not well 

 adapted to carry their large nests ; but a few in- 

 stances of the kind have been noted, as at Hatherley, 

 four miles from Gloucester ; between Kirkburton 

 Church and Huddersfield ; and near the lodge gate 

 at Theydon Place, Epping, April 1898. At the 

 Tower of London nests were built on the weather- 

 vanes on each turret of the White Tower, and some 

 years ago two pairs of Rooks built their nests and 

 reared their young between the chimney-pots of 

 houses in George Street, Hull. 



The nesting of Rooks in autumn has been occa- 

 sionally noted. In Nov. 1893 Colonel Troyte re- 

 ported a nest of young at Bampton, North Devon, 

 which the old ones were then feeding. 



The interior of the mouth in old and young 

 Crows (both black and grey) is dull pink or flesh 

 colour at all ages, whereas in the Rook the interior 

 of the mouth is pale red on leaving the nest, and 

 eventually becomes dull slate-coloured when the 

 bird is adult. Young Rooks until after their first 

 moult have the face feathered to the base of the 

 beak like Crows, but Mr. Robt. Service procured 

 some which had the face only partially bared in 

 May. He obtained a singular variety in Dumfries- 

 shire, of a chocolate-brown colour, with indistinct 

 darker vermiculations. A similar specimen was 

 exhibited by Prof. Duns in 1889 at a meeting of 

 the Royal Physical Society of Edinburgh, Pied 

 and white varieties are annually reported. 



