248 ROOK. 



Flocks of Rooks made iheir appearance towards the end of 

 November 1880 in IceLind, and the Faeroes are sometimes visited. 

 In Scandinavia — whence, as a rule, this species emigrates in winter — • 

 it breeds below the line of the fells ; it also nests in Finland on the 

 frontier of the St. Petersburg district, and eastward, sparingly, as far as 

 Archangel. During summer it is generally, though somewhat irreg- 

 ularly distributed throughout the rest of Northern and Central 

 Europe; nesting southward down to the vicinity of Biarritz in 

 France, Modena and Venetia in Italy, the Dobrudscha, and the 

 Crimea; but it is only known as a winter-visitor to the Iberian 

 Peninsula and the countries in the Mediterranean basin, where, 

 during summer, the soil is usually too hard to be bored for grubs &c. 

 It nests in the wooded districts of Northern Persia, Turkestan, and 

 Siberia as far as the valley of the Irtish ; visiting Afghanistan, 

 Kashmir, North-western India, and Palestine in winter, at which 

 season it is also found in Egypt as far south as Memphis, and occa- 

 sionally in Algeria. In Eastern Siberia, China and Japan the repre- 

 sentative species is C. pastinator, in v;hich the throat is feathered, 

 and the plumage purplish-black. 



The nest, usually built about the middle of March, and composed 

 of twigs and turf, with a lining of roots and straw, but seldom — if 

 ever — any wool, is generally placed in tall trees, but sometimes in 

 pollard-willows, firs, laurustinus and holly-bushes ; occasionally on 

 chimney-tops and ornaments of church-spires, and exceptionally on 

 the ground. In the Orkneys dry tangle and fish-bones are used as 

 building material. The 3-5 eggs are bluish-green, blotched and 

 streaked with olive-brown, like those of the Carrion-Crow but 

 rather smaller: measurements i'6 by 1-15 in. The food consists 

 chiefly of insects and their larvae, but practically the Rook will eat 

 anything, and in dry seasons, when protective herbage is scanty, it 

 not only takes eggs if occasion offers, but hunts for them regularly 

 and sytematically, like a Crow. Its note is the well-known caw. 



In the adult the general plumage is black with a blue gloss ; the 

 forehead, lores and throat are bare of feathers, and show a greyish 

 warty skin ; bill, legs and feet black ; inside of mouth slate-coloured. 

 Length 19 in.; wing 12-65 i"- In the young, until the second 

 moult, the base of the bill is bristly, as in the Crow, but the bill 

 itself is more slender, and the inside is deep flesh-colour; the 

 feathers have greyer bases, and the plumage has a bluish tint. The 

 bird does not breed until it is nearly two years old. White, pie- 

 bald and chocolate-brown varieties are not uncommon ; while 

 curious malformations of the bill have been noticed. 



