242 ROOK. 



have just described ; carrion may be occasionally 

 eaten, and we have trapped them with the bait of 

 an egg, or a piece of bacon fat, but this forms the 

 exception, and it may be stated as made up of 

 grains, fruit, roots, worms, slugs, insects and 

 their larvae. During the season of incubation the 

 neighbourhood furnishes an ample supply ; when 

 the young are able to accompany their parents, 

 excursions are made to a distance ; and previous 

 to the ripening of the grains, the muirs are much 

 frequented, and at this time the wild berries are 

 ripe, and many species of large caterpillars 

 abound. As the grain ripens, they descend to 

 the fields, and consume a considerable quantity ; 

 ^s the season advances, the potato and turnip 

 crops are in their turn partially attacked ; and 

 when these cease, or during the severity of winter, 

 scarcely any thing will come amiss, from whatever 

 can be gathered in the fields, to the refuse of the 

 dung-hill and barn-yard. The greatest damage 

 which the husbandman can allege against the 

 Rook, is done when his young wheat begins to 

 appear above ground ; then a " flock of Crows" 

 may cause considerable loss, and being guided to 

 the sweet and swollen grain by the tender shoot, 

 they burrow with their bills, and leave the " brafrd" 

 to perish deprived of its nourishment. Another 

 destructive 'period is, when the potato has been 

 newly planted, to the sets of which they are 

 equally guided by the young shoot, and a crop 

 thus may be materially injured. These depreda- 

 tions are by far the most serious, but in general a 



