ROOK. 549 
CORVUS FRUGILEGUS. 
ROOK. 
(Pxiate 16.) 
Corvus cornix frugilega, Briss. Orn. ii. p. 16 (1760). 
Corvus frugilegus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 156 (1766) ; et auctorum plurimorum— 
Temminck, Naumann, Gould, Schlegel, Gray, Salvadori, Dresser, Newton, &e. 
Coleeus frugilegus (Linn.), Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 114 (1829), 
Corvus agricola, Trist. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, p. 444. 
Trypanocorax frugilegus (Linn.), Loche, Expl. Sci, Algér., Ois. i. p. 113 (1867). 
Few birds are better known than the Rook; its noisy gatherings and 
its habit of building in colonies make it a bird well known and in- 
teresting to all. It is found commonly in most parts of England and 
Wales, as well as of Ireland, wherever the country is not too barren 
to afford it a pasture and a nesting-place. Few indeed are the country 
mansions or villages that do not possess their rookery. But the Rook does 
not always settle close to man’s habitation; for in the High Peak, for 
instance, there are several rookeries in smali plantations on the bleak 
hills above Castleton, whilst in the trees near Peveril Castle in the same 
district another small colony occurs. Northwards the Rook becomes less 
common. In Scotland it is rapidly increasing in numbers and extending 
its range as tree-planting is more extensively pursued. It is found, although 
at present locally, throughout Scotland as far north as the Orkneys and 
Shetlands, but is said only very recently to have begun to breed im the * 
latter localities. In Skye the Rook is spreading; and at Dunvegan 
there is an extensive rookery quite recently established in a large planta- 
tion, the most westerly breeding-place of the bird in Scotland. It has 
established colonies even in the wilder parts of Argyleshire and West 
Sutherlandshire. Large flocks of Rooks sometimes wander across to the 
Outer Hebrides; and it is very probable that the day is not far distant 
when colonies will be formed there. It also occasionally strays to the 
Faroes. This increase of the Rook is viewed by shepherds and farmers 
with no little anxiety ; and in some parts of Scotland the bird is rigorously 
persecuted ; for it may be harmless enough in England, where its feeding- 
grounds are so large, but in Scotland, where its pastures are small, it may 
possibly take a leaf from the Carrion-Crow’s book and become a pest. The 
Rook does not breed in the Channel Islands, and is only an accidental 
visitant to Guernsey, in severe winters sometimes occurring in large 
flocks. 
The Rook breeds throughout Central and Southern Europe as far 
