ROOK. 43 



operation of abrasion must be painful, and it must be con- 

 tinued; so that the poor bird must be put to torture every 

 time he digs deep after a worm or a grub; and this I cannot 

 but consider as inconsistent with the universal tender-kindness 

 of that Almighty Being, who has ordered him to seek so 

 large a portion of his food below the surface of the earth. 

 Fifthly, the Carrion Crow and the Jackdaw, which are also 

 u'reat diggers, never exhibit, as far as I know, any signs of 

 abrasion. Sixthly, the exact correspondence of the line of 

 denudation in all the specimens I have examined, points rather 

 natural, than to artificial causes.' 



Rooks are strictly gregarious in all their habits, and are 



ms identified with the 'corvus' of the Romans: they build 

 ither in trees, and consort together in search of food 



L'oughout the year. The same colonies, however, admit of 

 influx of strangers; none but natives born are made free 

 their society their freedom is that of birth. They breed 

 m the same trees, and occupy the same nests from year to 

 year; if, however, the trees give symptoms of decay, they are 

 quitted for sounder ones, and it has even been observed that 

 they have forsaken some, the bark of which had been peeled 

 off preparatory to their being felled. Strange stories are told, 

 one in my neighbourhood, of their following the fortunes of 

 owners who have left their dwelling-places, and of their having 

 through some mysterious instinct, abandoned their rookeries 

 near a mansion when the house was about to be pulled down, 

 or even to be left untenanted. 



The food of the Rook consists of the larva? of cockchaffers, 

 and those of other beetles, moths, and insects, wire-worms, 

 snails, slugs, and worms, as also potatoes and other fruits and 

 grains; 'fruges consumere nati,' as their specific name imports. 

 In the autumn they pluck and frequently bury acorns in the 

 earth, and probably walnuts and fir cones, which they likewise 

 carry off, provident, it is thought, of a season of want. 



The 'caw' of the Rook needs no description. 



Early in March, the nests of the previous year are begun 

 to be repaired, and some new ones are necessarily built by 

 the young of that date. The male diligently feeds the female, 

 and occasionally takes her place on the eggs. The young 

 are fledged by the end of May, or the beginning of June; 

 and second broods are sometimes produced as late as November; 

 but possibly they should be considered rather as early than 

 late ones. 



