ROOK. 295 



depredations of this bird. Perhaps however the potato-crop 

 is that which is commonly most injured by it, unless care be 

 taken to drive off the marauders both in the planting- season 

 and when the tubers are mature. Acorns, beechmast and 

 berries also contribute to the Rook's support, and when oppor- 

 tunity offers fruits, especially cherries and walnuts, are often 

 taken, as are fir-cones for the larvae they contain. In hard 

 frosts it will attack turnips, but its object seems to be as 

 much the grubs by which they are frequently infested as the 

 plants themselves. Much has been said of its egg-stealing 

 propensity, which indeed cannot be denied, but it seems to be 

 chiefly indulged in during droughts, when the scanty herbage 

 leaves exposed the nests of many birds that breed on the 

 ground ; and it is certain that, if Rooks were half so destruc- 

 tive to game as many people think, hardly a covey of Par- 

 tridges would be hatched. Among the minor supplies of the 

 Rook may be mentioned the caterpillars which occasionally 

 infest the foliage of oaks, the galls (Zool. s.s. p. 3628) 

 formed beneath the leaves of the same trees, and, as Mr. 

 Knox informs the Editor, may-flies drifted by the wind to a 

 river-bank. 



The Rook chiefly inhabits wooded and cultivated districts. 

 In autumn the rookery is generally frequented for some 

 days by the birds belonging to it, and they are seen sitting 

 on or about the old nests, occasionally carrying sticks, as 

 though intent on breeding, while hardly a year passes but, 

 in one part of the country or another, matters proceed so far 

 that eggs are laid and hatched at that season. According to 

 Jesse, the unpublished papers of Gilbert White mention a 

 nest with young in it on Nov. 26th. Sir C. Anderson wrote 

 the Author word that in 1817 a pair of Rooks had a nest 

 with eggs at Lea near Gainsborough in the same month, 

 and like information was received from Mr. Rodd as regards 

 Cornwall in 1836. So many similar cases have since been 

 recorded that enumeration of them is needless. It seems a 

 mistake to term them, as is often done, instances of late 

 breeding : they should rather be considered premature, since 

 the breeding- season must be held to be ended by the annual 



VOL. II. Q Q 



