12 



the loughs; and where all the timber is small, nests may be found only 

 a few feet from the ground. Exceptional cases of rookeries in pollarded 

 willows, hoUy bushes, hedges, and even in lauristinus bushes, Portugal laurels 

 and an apple tree, are on record, while in 1865 a nest was built on the 

 ground in a meadow near Longnor, Staffordshire {Zool. 1865, p. 9626). 



The nests are generally placed close together and sometimes large 

 numbers are to be found in the same tree. Single nests, built apart from 

 the main colony, are usually destroyed by the other rooks. Numerous cases 

 of twenty nests and upwards in one tree have been recorded, while an 

 entire rookery, consisting of about 100 nests is said to have been built 

 in a single ash tree at Barton-on-Humber {YmTell, II, p. 296). It is no 

 uncommon occurrence to find a flourishing rookery in the midst of a large 

 town. (For notes on London rookeries see Zool. 1878, p. 193 and 441.) 

 Instances where nests have been built on houses, church-towers, spires, 

 chimneys, vanes, etc., are too numerous to specify. Besides the well-known 

 cases usually quoted, the same habit has been observed in the Isle of Man 

 {Zool. 1892, p. 96), Ireland (Ussher, Birds of Ireland, p. 98) and the Orkneys 

 {Buckley and Harvie-Brown, p. 127). 

 Con- Jq France the rook, though rather local, is more numerous in the north 



Europe, than in the south, where it is scarce, but a colony exists as far south as 

 Biarritz, although it is not known to breed south of the Pyrenees. 



It is also plentiful in the Low Countries, but the great majority of 

 continental birds are summer migrants and not residents, like their British 

 relatives. There are a few large rookeries in Denmark, near Aalborg, Veile 

 and other places. For particulars of the principal German rookeries, some 

 of which are of enormous size, containing over 20,000 nests, see Matschie's 

 article in the Journ. f. Ornitli. 1887, p. 617. In Wiirtemburg and Bavaria 

 rooks are decidedly less numerous and remain through the winter, but 

 in Switzerland they are only known as winter visitors or met with on 

 passage. Colonies exist in Lombardy, Venetia and near Modena, but not 

 in south Italy. Though local it is on the whole widely distributed in 

 Austro - Hungary, but absent from some districts. It has however been 

 recorded as breeding in Bohemia, the "Auwalder" of Vienna (Lower Austria), 

 Carinthia, Slavonia, Hungary (see map and article in Aqiiila for 1904), 

 Galicia and one or two localities in Transylvania, where it is said to have 

 been introduced. In the Balkan peninsula there are large rookeries in the 

 Danube valley and in the Dobriidscha, and colonies may possibly exist in 

 Macedonia. In Russia it is found in the Caucasus and is plentiful in 

 the Crimea, while its northern range extends to Finland south of lat. 

 63° N., the Kola peninsula, where it was observed in 1903, and the lower 

 Petschora. It breeds plentifully near Gothenburg, but is chiefly found in 

 the southern part of Sweden south of lat. 60° N., though occurring as 



