796 ROSEHILLROTCHE 



throughout the middle tract of its ordinary range. More to the 

 northward, as in Sweden and northern Russia, it is a regular 

 summer-immigrant, while further to the southward, as in southern 

 France, Spain and most parts of Italy, it is, on the contrary, a 

 regular winter-immigrant. The same is found to be the case in 

 Asia, where it extends eastward as far as the upper Irtish and the Ob. 

 It breeds throughout Turkestan, in the cold weather visiting 

 Affghanistan, Cashmere and the Punjab, and Sir Oliver St. John 

 found a rookery of considerable size at Casbin in Persia. In 

 Palestine and in Lower Egypt it is only a winter-visitant, and Canon 

 Tristram noticed that it congregates in great numbers about the 

 mosque of Omar in Jerusalem. 1 



There are several moot points in the natural history of the 

 Rook which it is impossible here to do more than mention. One is 

 the cause of the curious shedding on reaching maturity of the 

 feathers of its face, and another the burning question whether 

 Rooks are on the whole beneficial or detrimental to agriculture. In 

 England the former opinion seems to be generally entertained, but in 

 Scotland the latter has long been popular. The absence of suffi- 

 cient observations made by persons at once competent and without 

 bias compels the naturalist to withhold his judgment on the matter, 

 but the absence of such observations is eminently discreditable to 

 the numerous Agricultural Societies of the United Kingdom. 



ROSEHILL (often corrupted by dealers into ROSELLE), an 

 Australian PARAKEET, Platycercus eximius, so called from the place of 

 that name in New South Wales where, if it was not (as is possible) 

 first obtained, it was formerly abundant. The nearly allied P. 

 icterotis of Western Australia also frequently bears the same name. 



ROTCHE (German or Dutch Eotges 2 ostensibly from its cry, 

 " rot-tet-tet "), a bird familiar to all Arctic navigators, the Little 

 AUK of books, and Mergulus alle of ornithology. It is, or used to 

 be, abundant almost beyond belief at many of its breeding-haunts, 



1 It is right to mention that the Canon considers the Rook of Palestine 

 entitled to specific distinction as Corvus agricola (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1864, p. 444 ; 

 Ibis, 1866, pp. 68, 69). In like manner the Rook of China has been described as 

 forming a distinct species, under the name of C. pastinator (Proc. Zool. Soc. 

 1845, p. 1), from having the feathers of its face only partially deciduous. 



2 Thus spelt the name is given by Friderich Martens (Spitsbergische oder Groen- 

 landische Seise Beschreibung. Hamburg : 1675, p. 61) who voyaged to Spitsbergen 

 in a Friesland ship in 1671, and is, like the others used by him, confessedly (p. 55) of 

 Dutch origin, though possibly in a German form. Yet the word seems not to be 

 recognized as Dutch by authorities on that language. An English translation of 

 Martens's narrative appeared in London in 1694 in an anonymous volume bearing 

 the title of An Account of several Late Voyages and Discoveries to the South and 

 North, dedicated to Samuel Pepys, Secretary of the Admiralty and author of the 

 well-known Diary, by whom its publication was probably instigated. 



