THE CROW TRIBE 1483 



the bill, which are generally molted by the western bird when arriving at maturity. 

 Like many other crows, the rook is an early breeder, nesting sometimes in shrubs 

 or even on the roofs of houses, but chiefly in tall trees, often in the midst of crowded 

 streets. The young are mainly reared upon noxious insects in their various stages, 

 on field voles, and waste substances. In the autumn the rooks band together to 

 plunder cornfields. They also do much mischief to young turnips, often tearing 

 up thousands of newly-planted seedlings; and in severe weather they attack the 

 roots of the turnips, or devour such small birds as have become too enfeebled by 

 want of food to elude their enemies. During the greater part of the year they are 

 gregarious, and many of their established ' ' rookeries ' ' contain myriads of birds 

 every night. Their sagacity enables them to evade the various forms of destruction 

 which reduce the numbers of other birds, and, as they are extremely long lived, the 

 rapid increase in their numbers has become somewhat alarming. Though less easily 

 reconciled to captivity than other members of the family, they are nevertheless lively 

 and amusing pets. 



The daw or jackdaw (C. monedula) is readily distinguished from 

 other crows by its small size, less powerful bill, and slaty-gray collar, 

 the remainder of the plumage being entire black in the western form. The typical 

 European daw is replaced in Northern Asia and Japan by Pallas' s daw (C. dauricus), 

 which wears a broad collar of ashy white and has a white belly. The daw is dis- 

 tributed locally throughout temperate Europe, and is very abundant in parts of 

 Algeria. A highly gregarious species even in the breeding season, it forms colonies 

 in low cliffs, nesting numerously in the holes and recesses formed by weathering. 

 Elsewhere single pairs appropriate disused rooks' nests, adapting them to their own 

 purposes. Not the least remarkable of the many idiosyncrasies of this familiar 

 bird, is the readiness with which it contents itself with every variety of nesting site, 

 rearing its young as happily in a disused rabbit hole as in th belfry of a church. 

 The nest is often a cumbrous pile of sticks, carefully lined with hair, wool, or other 

 soft material. The eggs vary in number from four to six, and are bluish green 

 spotted with gray and brown. Mr. Tait says that the jackdaws frequenting the 

 islands on the coast of Galicia breed in holes under the stones, and follow the droves 

 of pigs, in order to secure the insects which these animals turn up when grubbing 

 in the soil with their snouts. While the pig plows up the ground, they may often 

 be seen perching on its back, waiting their opportunity. During seasons of drought 

 jackdaws are sometimes compelled by hunger to commit serious depredations upon 

 the pheasant coops, in consequence of the earthworms upon which these birds 

 largely subsist having retired from the surface to secure moisture at a greater depth. 

 This species does not appear to make the migratory journeys frequently accom- 

 plished by rooks and hooded crows, the daw being in fact of a somewhat sedentary 

 character, as evinced by the attachment which it displays for favorite nesting sites. 

 A black variety of the European jackdaw, in which the usual gray collar has become 

 entirely suppressed, has been regarded by some naturalists as a valid species. Al- 

 though these are rare, white jackdaws are sufficiently plentiful. Examples of a 

 uniform silver gray occur from time to time, but are less frequently met with than 

 white or pied birds. 



