98 PASSERES. 



65. CORVUS PASTINATOR. 

 (EASTERN ROOK.) 



Corvtis pasfi'nator, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1845, p. 1. 



Tlic Eastern Rook is sliglitly smaller than the Common Crow 

 (winf^ from carpal joint 12J to 11^ inehes), and its bill is quite as 

 slender. The feathers of the mantle are glossed with greenish 

 purple, and have dark-grey bases. In adult examples the forehead 

 and lores are bare of feathers. 



The Eastern Rook is a resident in Southern Japan, but has not 

 been known to have occurred in Yezzo. Captain Blakiston sent me 

 an example from Yokohama for examination (Seebohm, Ibis, 1879, 

 p. 31) ; and there is an example in the British Museum collected by 

 Captain St. John at Nagasaki, where tiiose procured by Dr. Siebold, 

 and erroneously recorded as Corviis frugilegus , were probably obtained 

 (Tcmminck and Schlcgel, Fauna Japonica, Avcs, p. 79). 



The range of the Eastern Rook extends from Irkutsk, across 

 South-eastern Siberia, to North China and Japan. It is not known 

 that cither species occurs in the valley of the Western Yencsay or in 

 that of the Obb, but the range of the European Rook extends east- 

 wards to the valley of the Irtiseh. 



The Rooks appear to be much less hardy than the Crows, as their 

 range does not extend nearly so far north; but if we may judge 

 from the bareness of their nostrils, their food is much more exclu- 

 sively obtained in the ground, and they arc consequently soon starved 

 out by a frost. As the mean temperature of January in Ilakodadi 

 is seven degrees below freezing-point, whilst in Yokohama it is seven 

 degrees above it, there is no difficulty in explaining Avhy the Eastern 

 Rook is not a resident in Yezzo. 



The Western Rook, Corvus fruyilecpis, agrees with the Eastern 

 Rook, and differs from the Common Crow, in having dark bases to 

 the feathers of the mantle. The Western Rook when adult has the 

 throat, as -well as the forehead and lores, bare of feathers, which is 

 never the case with its Eastern ally. All three species differ in tlie 

 colour of the head — in Corvits fnu/ilci/ns the jjurple of the crown is 

 glossed with blue, in Corvus ixisllnutor with red, and in Corvus 

 corone with green. 



