230 ROOK. 



November 1S80 in Iceland ; and in Scandinavia — whence, as a rule, 

 it emigrates in winter — it breeds below the line of the fells; as it 

 also does in Finland on the frontier of the St. Petersburg district, and 

 sparingly as far as Archangel. During summer it is generally, though 

 somewhat irregularly, 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. It is probable — but on this point information is 

 desirable — that it also breeds in the exceptionally moist province of 

 Galicia, in the north-west of Spain ; but otherwise it is only known 

 as a winter-visitor to the Peninsula and the countries in the Medi- 

 terranean 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, Cashmere, North-western India, and 

 Palestine in winter, at which season it is also found in Egypt down 

 to Memphis, and occasionally in Algeria. In Eastern Siberia, China, 

 and Japan the representative species is C. pas/inaior, in which the 

 throat is feathered, and the plumage purplish-black. 



The nest, 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 eggs, 3-5 in number, are like those of the Carrion-Crow, bluish 

 green blotched and streaked with olive-brown, but rather smaller : 

 average measurements i'6 by i"i5 in. The food consists chiefly of 

 insects and their larvae, but practically the Rook will eat anything, 

 and in dry seasons or localities it not only takes eggs if the occasion 

 offers, but hunts for them, like a Crow. ' Its note is the well-known 

 cazc. 



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 about igin. ; wing 1275 in. 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 and piebald 

 varieties are not uncommon, and curious malformations of the bill 

 have been noticed. 



