ROOK. 301 



in Helgoland on the west coast, and Herr Collett has 

 recorded one killed in spring on the Pasvig in East Fin- 

 mark, a locality that it may have reached from the in- 

 terior, for Wolley observed it at least once at Muonioniska 

 at that season, and it has heen seen in summer and 

 known to winter at Quickjock ; but in Sweden, where it is 

 generally a summer-visitant, it is almost entirely confined to 

 the south and to the islands of (Eland and Gottland. In 

 Finland it is of irregular occurrence, and whether it breeds 

 in that country is unknown. In most parts of Russia it is 

 very common and it reaches Archangel, where it breeds, not 

 in large numbers however. Further to the eastward its 

 range is not so northerly, but it extends to the Upper 

 Irtish and the Ob, though it is not recorded from else- 

 where in Siberia. It is found breeding throughout Turke- 

 stan, and in winter visits Affghanistan, Cashmere and the 

 Punjab. It inhabits Persia to the north of Ispahan, and 

 Major St. John noticed a considerable rookery at Casbin. 

 It appears in the Caucasus and in winter in Palestine, 

 congregating, says Canon Tristram, in large numbers 

 about the Mosque of Omar in Jerusalem. At the same 

 season it visits Egypt, but, according to Capt. Shelley, is 

 not found above Memphis. In Algeria its appearance is 

 accidental, and it is unknown to Col. Irby from Morocco. 

 Throughout the south of Europe and the islands of the 

 Mediterranean it is a winter -visitant, examples observed 

 there being mostly young birds of the year. The southern 

 limits of its breeding-range are not at all clearly known ; 

 but in Italy, Lombardy, Venetia and the country about 

 Modena alone fall within them. In no part of Spain, not 

 even the north, as Gallicia, is it otherwise than a winter- 

 visitant. In France the line of demarcation has not been 

 drawn, for while breeding commonly in the north it is but 

 an immigrant in the south. In Southern Germany (Baden, 

 Wurtemberg and Bavaria) it is chiefly known as a winter- 

 bird, but a few breed in some places, as is also the case in 

 Carinthia, but not in Styria. It is recorded as breeding 

 in Bohemia and Galizia, and plentifully in the Crimea. 



