23() Mr. J. H. Gurney on the [Ibis, 



He has a power which enables him to smell through all 

 bristles, thick or thin, and quickly to detect the fat grubs 

 of the Cockchafer and the Click-beetle l3'ing buried beneath 

 the ground, especially if it be the loosened soil of a newly- 

 turned furrow. This faculty the Rook must exercise by the 

 hel[) of his nose, and what proves it to be so is that he does 

 not make his hole by chance, but in the right place where 

 the morsel lies. 



In 191tl I had evidence of this, for having sown one portion 

 of a field with potatoes in response to the national appeal to 

 farmers to grow this crop, I was very soon struck with the 

 propensity of Rooks to visit that part of my farm and eat 

 them. It is true they Mere pretty safe for the first four 

 weeks, but when May came, and the " settings ^^ begun to 

 shoot a little, the Rooks found them out. Rooks can be very 

 troublesome also on the newly-sown barley in spring, when 

 rows of holes made by their strong beaks are sometimes to 

 be seen, but always be it noted, in the place where the grain 

 lies*. Nevertheless the instinct of the Rook may be some- 

 times at fault, as the following anecdote seems to show. 



On June 20th, 1920, the farm labourers at Keswick were 

 set to "single'^ swede-turnips, which were already about 

 four inches high. They left oft" chopping them out at noon 

 for dinner, and to go into a hay field on another part of the 

 farm, returning to the roots about 6 A.M. on the following' 

 morning. In the meanwhile a very large flork of Rooks had 

 settled on the field, and observing the freshly-hoed plants, 

 perhaps concluded from their (h-ooping appearance that 

 they were attacked by the larvae of Agrioles lineatus, 

 i. e. " wireworms.'^ At all events, they completely destroyed 

 two acres of the crop of swedes by pulling up the young 

 plants and leaving them to die — in fact, doing me over twenty 

 pounds worth of damage in less than eight hours. If, then, 

 my interpretation of this performance be the right one, it is 

 not a proof of scent, but quite the reverse on the part of 

 Rooks. 



' They may, however, be baulked by cross-liarrowiug, whicli makes 

 the graiu lie deeper. 



