26 The Vertebrates of Solway. 



general Rook population is in the remarkable change of habits 

 that happened towards the end of the '70's. Previous to that time 

 they attacked the farmer's growing and harvested crops at the 

 same time that they were destroying untold quantities of grubs and 

 noxious insects. Then came a g-reat change. Eggs of all kinds, 

 young birds, small rodents, young rabbits, chickens, and ducklings- 

 were devoured as greedily as ever the Carrion Crow did the same 

 thing-. At the same time came a curious structural alteration. 

 The feathers round the base of the bill, which always used to fall 

 off during- the young Rook's first summer and winter, were iu 

 many cases retained for years. There is no doubt this retention 

 of these feathers was the direct result of the assumption of Carrion 

 Crow habits by the Rooks. So, of course, the gamekeepers were 

 everywhere up in arms against the Rooks, with the usual result. 

 I am not blaming- them, for Rooks, with their present propensities, 

 must be bad neighbours to a Pheasant preserve. The cause of 

 such a sudden change to what may be considered ancestral habits, 

 after a most lengthened period during which no charges of that 

 particular kind were ever laid against them, is rather obscure. 

 The best explanation is that of my friend Mr John Harvie Brown 

 — the foremost of Scottish naturalists. He traces it to two causes. 

 The first one is the immense increase of the Starling, depri\iug' 

 the Rooks of their grub and insect food. The other is the practice 

 all over the country of spreading- on the fields near the larger 

 towns of so-called scavengers' manure or refuse. Egg- shells and 

 garbage of all kinds are amongst the stuff, and the Rooks, com- 

 pelled to forage amongst it, soon learned a bad lesson. The 

 whole matter is well worth fuller investigation than has yet been 

 given it. 



The Barn Owl {Strix flammea, L.). 



This is another bird that seems dying out from some unex- 

 plained cause. There are very few left now. 



The Hen Harrier {Circus cyaiteus, L.). 



The Hen Harrier is a bird that probably very few local 

 iiaturahsts have ever seen alive. And yet half-a-century or more 

 ago it existed in hundreds all over the mosses and moors of our 

 area. Game-preserving has sealed its doom, and so also has it 

 that of the 



