THE ROOK. 67 



stance has many times occasioned the idea that they were 

 feeding- very early young- birds. The eggs are four or five 

 in number, of a pale greenish ground, blotched with a 

 darker greenish-brown. Except^ the nest should be de- 

 stroyed—as may happen during high winds such as that 

 upon the 29th April, 1882 — Rooks have but one nest in 

 the year. 



The young- are very noisy in welcoming the advent 

 of the parent-birds with food, which is of a very mixed 

 description, and embraces the destructive grub of the 

 common cockchafer, the larvae of many other insects, 

 grubs, worms, wireworms, and slugs. It is now 

 readily admitted that the little corn eaten in the early 

 spring (despite the terror of the scarecrow) is more than 

 counterbalanced by the multitude of destructive insects 

 destroyed in the remaining months of the year. 



The young squabs can generally fly by the end of May, 

 and repair with their parents to the fields, where they are 

 still fed by them until able to obtain their own food. 



Young Rooks are of a uniform black plumage, which 

 increases in brilliancy in the succeeding spring. If not 

 previously lost, the feathers immediately round the base 

 of the beak do not grow again after the second moult, 

 leaving a white patch, as shown in the plate, which has 

 earned for the bird the name of the " White-faced Crow/' 

 Both male and female are subject to this, and the sexes 

 are difficult to distinguish. 



At the approach of winter the birds leave their 

 Rookeries, and then roost in the hazel bushes in woodsy 

 but in early spring return to their native Rookery. 

 Although at its proper season Rook-shooting is syste- 

 matically carried out, it does not deter the surviving 



