NOTES. 255 



Norfolk at Cley (C. D. Borrer in litt.) ; at Yarmouth 

 (C. B. Ticelmrst in litt.) ; at the end of October in Thanet, 

 Kent (N.F.T. fide H. S. D. Byron) and two specimens 

 obtained in Skye on November 7th by Mr. T. P. Aldworth 

 were submitted to me for examination. Several small flocks 

 are also reported from Ayr, Lanark and Renfrew, where the 

 bird is little known, in the early part of November {Glasgow 

 Nat., Vol. III., pp. 34, 35). 



Little Auks {M. alle) have also been reported in some 

 numbers, " a great flight " appealing on the Yorkshire coast, 

 with a strong N.E. gale, on November 19th. " Hundreds 

 were passing at sea and going N.W." (T. H. Nelson in litt.); 

 a number were also reported a little later from Norfolk 

 (J. H. Gurney in litt.) and Suffolk on the 21st (C. B. Tice- 

 hurst in litt.), while one was picked up as far inland as 

 Ricknians worth (Herts) on the 21st (H. R. Leach »Vt litt.), 

 another near Harpenden on the 23rd (R. Lydekker, Field, 3. 

 xii. 1910, p. 1054), and one in Romney Marsh, Kent, on the 25th. 



Whooper Swans (C. musicus) were also reported by Mr. 

 Nelson from the Tees (Yorks) on November 19th, and about 

 eighty arrived at Holkham (Norfolk) on the evening of the 

 same day and departed in a west or north-west direction 

 the next morning (J. Beddall Smith i7i litt.), while one was 

 obtained on November 30th in the Derwent Valley (Yorks) 

 (Sydney H. Smith in litt.).— K.F.W. 



Feeding-habits of the Rook. — An important Report upon 

 this subject has been prepared by Mr. W. E. CoUinge and 

 published by the Land Agents' Society. The inquiry aj^pears 

 to have been undertaken in a very thorougli and proper 

 manner, the stomachs of eight hundred and thirty Rooks 

 procured throughout the year in almost every part of England 

 and Wales having been examined. 



Mr. Collinge summarizes the results as follows : — 



1. That 67.5 per cent, of the food of the Rook consists 

 of grain ; if to this we add that of roots and fruits, the 

 percentage is raised to 71 per cent. 



2. Tlie animal food content was only 29 per cent., of 

 which quite one-third must be reckoned against the 

 Rook. 



3. There is ample evidence to show that with tlie present 

 large numbers of Rooks, a grain diet is preferred. 



4. So far as the evidence of this inquiry shows, the 

 Rook is not a particularly beneficial bird to the agri- 

 culturist, although its usefulness might be considerably 

 increased were it fewer in numbers. 



