206 THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 



is under-estimated ; but if one had the opportunity of seeing the 

 hosts of them which travel past during two months of autumn, in 

 uninterrupted sequence, and return in the spring, as is the case here, 

 where no tree, wood, or hill impedes the view; and if one at the same 

 time remembers that all these fellows, impudent as they are cunning, 

 do nothing else during the long summer days, from early dawn to 

 sunset, but plunder the nests of other birds, from the Lark to the 

 Eagle (Dresser), one would indeed wonder that there are still any 

 birds, other than Hooded Crows, left in the world. By all means let 

 us nurture and protect our little bird-friends in every possible 

 manner, more especially by abstaining from destroying any small 

 shrubbery or bush, the sole use of which may, perhaps, be that it 

 affords some small songster a hidden nook for its nest ; above every- 

 thing, however, let us aim at compassing the destruction of Hooded 

 Crows unsparingly year in year out, by all the means placed at our 

 command. 



The Hooded Crow does not breed in western Europe, but its 

 breeding area extends from Great Britain, Holland, Germany, and 

 Scandinavia, through the whole of Asia and Europe, as far as the 

 Lena ; it also nests, though less numerously, in north-eastern Africa. 



40. The Rook [SAATKABE]. 

 CORVUS FRUGILEGUS, Linn. 



Heligolandish : Groot swart Kauk = Great Black Jackdaw. 



Corvus frugilegus. Naumann, ii. 78. 



Hook. Dresser, iv. 551. 



Corbeau Freux. Temminck, Manuel, i. 1 10, iii. 59. 



Though not visiting Heligoland in such immense numbers as 

 the Hooded Crow, the Rook is nevertheless met with invariably in 

 spring and autumn, often to the number of many thousands on one 

 day. It is one of the earliest arrivals, and almost counts among the 

 heralds of the reawakening migration. Thus in 1885 the first flock 

 of about one hundred individuals arrived as early as the 4th of 

 February, during a southerly wind. This was succeeded by unfavour- 

 able weather, lasting until the middle of the month, so that a second 

 and also very large flock did not arrive until the 17th. On the 26th 

 I find ' tens of thousands ' noted in my diary. The migration lasted 

 till about the middle of April. As late as the 7th an ' enormous 

 number,' and on the 9th ' very large numbers,' are recorded in my 

 diary. These later visitors often become a great nuisance here, 

 inasmuch as they pull the newly-planted potatoes out of the ground, 

 and almost completely plunder many of the smaller fields. It is 



