CORVUS FRUGILIGUS. 459 



The Rook. 



(Corvus Fragilirjus.) Linn. 



" 'Twas now the hour 

 When o'er the plain the fading rays of eve 

 Their sober light effuse, and towards his nest, 

 As heavily he flaps the dewy air, 

 The hoarse rook breathes his melancholy note" — Southey. 



The rook is so well known it would be like trying to tell how 

 leaves come in spring to give a long description ; yet it is an 

 interesting bird — the only one that conies openly near man and 

 trusts its big nest to his care in those general assemblies called 

 rookeries, which form part of nearly every British estate where 

 there are trees suitable for parson rook; nor is their "caw, 

 caw" deemed a flaw, but an adjunct, for, like Longfellow's river, 

 proprietors come and go, but the rooks caw " on for ever." It is 

 hardly so large as the carrion crow, which it resembles in colour, 

 not in habits, for the one loves company the other solitude. When 

 near the rook is known by the scurfy base of its bill and throat, 

 which some authors say is caused by digging for grubs ; but it is 

 a specific distinction to assist it in digging — a wise provision of 

 dame Nature to help in clearing the soil of vermin. That tiny 

 harrow does far more good than ill by the destruction of grubs. 

 Owing to two large nerves which run down between 

 the eyes and upper mandible, rooks have a finer sense 

 of finding worms and grubs than other birds, and the nudity on 

 the forehead and base of the bill is not caused solely by 

 thrusting into the soil, for as feathers are full of blood to the 

 roots, the grinding process would be a painful impediment in the 

 rook's mission, and make it find its living some way else, for at 

 each moult the stumps would come out and new feathers take 

 their place — as Nature always repairs damage — she would never 

 perpetuate such a blunder as this. Young rooks have been 

 kept to test this. When they leave the nest there is no 

 bareness, but before winter they begin to assume the scurfy 

 protection of the old birds. Two were kept for the purpose. 

 The feathers remained on the bill till August 1 6th, and by the 

 end of the month the horny skin began to appear. The rook is 

 essentially gregarious in nesting, roosting, and feeding ; in 

 March, busy with their nests at grey dawn, or returning, as 



