Winged Vermin Food of the Rook. 439 



any of the stages of culture just mentioned. When the 

 corn is sown, what is it if it be not this which brings the 

 birds to the fields and engages their most earnest attention 

 day after day, and all day long ? Grubs, worms, or insects 

 it cannot be. The rooks are there in search of food, 

 and that food is the freshly scattered corn. It is asserted 

 by the advocates of the rook, that, once the grain has 

 sprouted, be it wheat, barley, or oats, the birds are not 

 in quest of the corn, but of wire worms and other noxious 

 pests of the soil, which are instinctively attracted to the 

 juicy roots of the grain ; and that, although the rooks are 

 compelled in the search to uproot the now growing corn, 

 still it will be noticed that the blades they turn out 

 are withered, and that also they would not have thriven 

 owing to the grubs' presence. We have had ample expe- 

 rience of the incorrectness of this assertion. Does it not 

 strike one as peculiarly noticeable that a blade of just- 

 uprooted corn should appear withered? Further, is it not 

 remarkable that this abundance of wire worms is towards 

 the centre of the field, and that if one scare the rooks by 

 such means as are at one's disposal, these have an equally 

 depressing effect on the ordinarily unimpressive wire worms, 

 grubs, &c. ? 



Potatoes also form very acceptable food for rooks, and, 

 as far as we can see, are held in great esteem by them. 

 The defenders of the rook, however, are at variance with 

 those who denounce it in regard to potatoes, asserting 

 that these indispensable tubers are attacked by many insect 

 foes, and it is to get at these and consume them that 

 the vermin unearth the sets. While allowing that bits of 



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