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IV. 



ROOKS AND ROOKERIES. 



THE Rook is popularly supposed to be the companion ol 

 man- almost as much so as the Sparrow. It is such a 

 familiar homely bird in England that the casual observer 

 finds a difficulty in associating it with anything but a 

 semi-domesticated state of existence. But the Rook, in 

 most other countries which it inhabits, is one of the 

 wildest of wild birds, and has its haunts in many instances 

 far from the homes of civilised man. Another very 

 interesting fact in the economy of the Rook is that in 

 those countries where the winters are much more severe 

 than they are with us, as for instance in the northern 

 parts of Russia and Siberia, this bird is a migratory one, 

 and passes southwards in autumn to the shores of the 

 Mediterranean, and even to North-east Africa, Persia, 

 Afghanistan, and North-west India. Many of these 

 migratory Rooks either pass along our coasts in their 

 southern progress, or stay with us during the winter. 

 Although an inhabitant of wild districts, well-wooded 

 ones are essential to its requirements ; and we find that 



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