CROWS AND ROOKS. 



their species, except, as we shall show by and by, for particular 

 purposes, but generally remain in pairs. Their favourite food, 

 too, like the Raven, is carrion, and they will watch their 

 opportunity, and pounce down on young lambs, or even sheep, 

 when they find them what is called cast — that is, thrown 

 upon their backs in a furrow, and unable to rise. In these 

 cases, the eye is the point which they first attack ; but smaller 

 living prey they will also attempt to carry off, to be devoured 

 at leisure. A person walking near a plantation heard a shrill 

 cry, and running in to find out the cause, discovered a' Crow 



The Rook 



fastening itself on a young rabbit, weighing from half to three- 

 quarters of a pound, which was making great efforts to release 

 itself, but in vain, for the Crow actually caught it up and bore 

 it away across two or three fields. Such is their favourite 

 food; but, when pressed by hunger, they will also feed on 

 potatoes, barley, or, in short, whatever comes within their 

 reach. 



The Rook, on the other hand, is a social bird, passing its 

 days with those relations and friends amongst whom it was 

 born and bred ; and for its food, preferring a vegetable diet, 

 or such insects as it can collect under the sod of the meadow, 

 or pick up in its progress over a fallow or fresh-ploughed field. 



