THE ROOK 



is an early breeder, Its eggs being laid in March or 

 April. By the end of February the big nests are being 

 repaired and others are being made. Yearly the same 

 trees and the same nests are used, so that in some cases 

 the latter are very bulky, being added to each season. 

 They are made of sticks, cemented with mud and 

 turf, and lined with moss, wool, dry leaves, straws, and 

 sometimes a few feathers ; the cavity is rather flat, 

 but the lining smooth, and the whole structure is very 

 substantial. I have often stood on a Rook's nest in 

 perfect safety. The three to five eggs range from pale 

 blue through various shades of green, blotched, spotted, 

 and clouded with olive-brown and grey. The bustle 

 and din of a rookery whilst nesting is in progress is too 

 well known to need detailed description. Both parents 

 incubate, and one brings food to the other whilst doing so. 

 When the young are hatched they are fed assiduously by 

 both parents, and it is now that the Rooks in many 

 London rookeries must have a hard time of it, flying many 

 miles over the houses and streets to grass-lands and other 

 places in quest of food. As soon as the young Rooks leave 

 the nest they resort to the fields and parks with the old 

 birds, and during summer and autumn often wander far 

 out into the country to feed and to roost. 



The adult Rook is entirely black, with a metallic sheen 

 of purple, specially on the upper parts ; the throat and 

 space round the base of the bill is bare of feathers and 

 covered with a grey, warty skin. Bill black ; tarsi and 

 toes black ; irides brown. Length 17 inches. The 

 nestling is dull black, with little or no metallic sheen, and 

 the face and throat are covered with feathers. This bare- 

 ness is gradually assumed, and usually completed after 

 the autumn moult, but is sometimes partially deferred 

 until the following spring. Young Rooks may be distin- 

 guished from Carrion Crows by the concealed grey bases to 

 the body feathers, those of the latter being white. 



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