146 THE RIVER-SIDE NATURALIST. 



owners, and sucking their eggs. The working-men did not 

 fully comprehend the meaning of the attack, and omitted to 

 go to the rescue in time. Every nest now has its empty 

 egg-shells, and not a rook remaining. Naturalists may like 

 to know that the date of the burglary was the 5th April." 



It is very interesting to watch the flight of these birds, 

 particularly in the evening, when they return to their 

 rookeries after the day's work, streaming home in twos 

 and threes. Those already assembled receive each lot 

 with much fuss and noise, and when the greater part are 

 collected together, of a sudden up they all rise and gambol 

 in mid-air before retiring to rest. 



"Behold the rooks how odd their flight ! 

 They imitate the sliding kite, 

 And seem precipitate to fall, 

 As if they felt the piercing ball." 



This propensity to shoot down with closed wings is 

 supposed to foretell rain. A French proverb says : 



"Quand le corbeau passe bas, 

 Tous 1'aile il porte la glace ; 

 Quand il passe haut, 

 II porte le chaleur." 



Black as he looks, his plumage is richly glossed with 

 purple on the upper parts, particularly on the head and 



FIG. I. HEAD OF THE ROOK. FIG. 2. HEAD OF THE CARRION CROW. 



neck ; the beak is black, and in the adult bird the forehead, 

 lores, chin, and throat are bare, the skin being scabious and 

 of a grey hue. In the carrion crow the feathers cover all 

 roese parts, and thus can be distinguished ; but young 

 thoks are also feathered at the beak until the first moult. 



