THE ROOK. 219 



like human folk, they grow tired at last, and their caws 

 are heard in lessening numbers, and finally silence reigns 

 supreme, only broken by one or two solitary caws, for 

 amongst a company so large there are always a few wake- 

 ful ones, which would be heard even though we tarried 

 under the trees until the Rooks left them in the gray light 

 of morning, for their day on the neighbouring pastures. 



The food of the Rook is varied, and there is not a 

 field which he does not visit at some season of the year. 

 We see him on the grass lands, pulling up the turf, to 

 obtain the wire-worms and grubs ; we see him on the 

 corn lands soon after the seed is sown, consuming the 

 seeds which have not been covered up, or digging into 

 the ground to prey upon the wire-worms at their roots. 

 He is seen on the oat fields when that cereal is a few 

 inches high ; but the agriculturist need not be alarmed, 

 for let him examine those parts of the fields on which 

 the Rooks are congregated, and he will find that the birds 

 are seeking and greedily devouring a large brown grub 

 which is preying upon the vitals of the young and tender 

 plants. He is on the potato fields for the same purpose, 

 and when hard pressed by hunger will sometimes eat 

 them, as also will he eat the turnips, boring into them 

 with his strong beak. We see him in the meadows too, 

 following the plough for worms, and in the neighbour- 

 hood of manure heaps. Rooks are also fond of carrion, 

 and may be seen eating the refuse of the slaughter-house 

 when thrown on the field as manure. If a dead animal 

 be left in the fields exposed, the Rook will visit it and 

 feed upon it, just as ravenously as the Carrion Crow. In 

 the autumn months when the acorns are ripe he feeds 

 upon them. We invariably see the finest acorns grow- 

 ing at the end of the slender branches, and the Rook, did 

 he alight on these branches in his efforts to obtain them, 



