ROYSTON, OR HOODED "CROW. ROOK. 159 



country of Europe. In the reign of Henry the Eighth 

 they were grown so numerous, and deemed so injurious 

 to the farmer, that they became the object of parliamentary 

 attention ; and an act was passed for their destruction, in- 

 cluding rooks and choughs. Every village was to provide 

 crow-nets for ten years ; and during that period the inha- 

 bitants were obliged to assemble at certain times, in order 

 to project the most effectual means of extirpating them. 

 But, though crows are so numerous here, Linnaeus men- 

 tions them only as birds he once knew killed in Sweden. 

 There are some foreign species of much superior beauty. 



THE ROYaTON, OR HOODED CROW. 



This is a bird of passage, and in all its habits resembles 

 the rook. It visits England about the beginning of winter, 

 and leaves us with the woodcock. In the Highlands and 

 Islands of Scotland it breeds, and continues during the 

 whole year. This species is about twenty-two inches long, 

 and of nearly the same width when the wings are ex- 

 panded. The upper parts of the body are of a fine black, 

 glossed with blue; the under parts are of a pale ash-colour. 

 It builds its nest indifferently in all kinds of trees, and 

 subsists chiefly on insects. 



THE ROOK, 



This well-known bird differs little in size or colour from 

 the common crow : the principal distinction is in the bill ; 

 which, as the rook frequently thrusts it into the ground in 

 search of grubs and earth-worms, is bare of feathers as far 

 as the eyes, and appears of a whitish colour. This discri- 

 mination is the more necessary to be pointed out, as the 

 poor bird now under consideration has frequently suffered 

 on account of its similitude to the crow; and thus a friend 

 to the fanner, which destroys the insects that feed on corn, 

 has been confounded with an enemy that frequently makes 

 great havoc among the young poultry, and is at best dis- 

 gusting and useless. Indeed the rook, instead of being 

 proscribed, as it has sometimes been, till its loss was missed, 



