THE OLD GIST 



61 



ments of civilization, even though the most 

 tempting boxes be presented to its choice. 

 ''When it will, it will, ;ind when it wont, it 

 won't," the Purple IMartins must be depend- 

 ed upon to fill the neat little houses that 

 are built to entice the Swallows. In 

 Eastern Massachusetts, says Dr. Brewer, 

 the change of habit is confirmed. Id parts 

 of Maine and New Brunswick, Mr. 

 Boardman tells me, the experiment is far 

 from successful, as ten to one Swallows 

 still nest in holes in trees and stumps. The 

 hollow tree is the natural, and still the us- 

 ual resort, as we see clearly from the study 

 of these birds in the west. Throughout the 

 State of Connecticut it is not uncommon 

 to find the White bellied Swallows breed- 

 ing in sinirle boxes, placed on buildings, on 

 poles and in trees, our own experience 

 which is quite limited, is as follows : — In 

 an old orchard at the head of Lake Snip- 

 sic we found a colony of White bellies 

 but the owner, a German, refused to let us 

 take any eggs, as he liked to see them 

 about his place, especially on their first re- 

 turn in Spring time, however we prevailed 

 upon him, and one set of five fresh eggs, 

 and a single one from a deserted nest, was 

 the result. A few days after this we. took 

 four single boxes and nailed two of them 

 in a small decayed apple tree, and they 

 were at once taken possession of, by two 

 pairs of the White bellies, as this was an 

 old colony, it is possible that there were 

 more Swallows than decayed trees, hence 

 their readiness to accept these boxes. In 

 close proximity to these trees were a 

 strong colony of Bank Swallows,and with- 

 in five hundred feet a colony of about 

 one hundred nests of Cliff, or Eave Swal- 

 lows, beside a good number of Barn Swal- 

 lows, all of which seemed to breed, and feed 

 in perfect harmony. 



Food and Structure of Rooks. 



Through the kindness of Mr. Wright I 

 have received for examination three Rooks, 

 killed in a field of young clover belongin"- 

 to Dr. Broomhall, at Beech Cliff. They 



weighed respectively 14 1-2 oz., 15 1-2. 

 and 18. I find that the gizards are com- 

 posed of two coats, first, the external mus- 

 cidar coat and secondly, the internal grind- 

 ing coat. This internal coat in some birds, 

 notably the common turkey, is very thick, 

 firm, and corrugated ; in the Rook it is 

 simply a thin bag. The gizards of two of 

 the Rooks were postively empty, the giz- 

 zard of the third Hook was filled with a 

 material wiiich,in spite of sundry washings, 

 dryings, etc.. is simply a puzzle. It looks, 

 undm- the microscope, like amass of very 

 fine vegetable fibre. Mr. Searle thinks it 

 is potato and the fibre of the shoots of tui'- 

 nips, or may be clover. I find that the 

 Rook has a pouch underneath it's chin in 

 which it probably carries its food home to 

 its young — a sort of cheek, pocket, or 

 pouch, as a monkey. I observe that the 

 tongue fits into a sort of scabbard, or case, 

 hollowed out lor its reception in the base 

 of the upper beak. On making a section 

 ofthisbeak, I find that the organ's for 

 smelling are very highly developed. The 

 beak consists of two parts, a horny part 

 externally, and a bony part internally. The 

 internal parts are highly sensitive, tlius ac- 

 I counting for the ready way in Avhich the 

 [ Rook is enabled to pick up worms, or dis- 

 I cover their wiiereabouts when buried in 

 : the earth. At the base of the beak is a 

 : white rough skin. By some it has been 

 j advanced that the rook, in digging, wears 

 I down its feathers, and that the base of its 

 j beak becomes bared of feathers for that 

 j reason. It is I believe, a fact that young 

 I rooks do not have this space bare, but that 

 it is covered with feathers. The Rook, 

 ! when adult, loses the feathers, I do not 

 : think they wear off, hut simply fall off. I 

 ; have made a section of a Rook's skull. I 

 I found he has a very large brain, and the 

 ! convolutions of the gray and white matter 

 : are well marked. I think they earn their 

 living by destroying insect life, especially 

 I worms and grubs. If there were no Rooks 

 the larvae of the Cockchafer (called Joe 

 Bassett's) would have a fine time of it ; 

 ' they are also great eaters of wireworms. 



