PERCHING BIRDS. 133 



Their partiality for the grub of the cockchafer is pro- 

 ductive of the most beneficial results. But I have seen 

 long patches of sward in the forests and parks so 

 thoroughly and uniformly dug up in their search for 

 them that it was greensward no longer ; not a patch as 

 large as the hand had escaped being uprooted, clearly 

 showing the abundance of these destructive larvae. 



I do not agree with the opinion so commonly ex- 

 pressed, that the bare space around the base of the bill 

 of the rook is produced by its habit of grubbing in the 

 ground ; I have watched them very closely when they 

 have been engaged in upturning the turf as I have 

 described, and never saw the bill plunged beyond its 

 length. Even when they are searching the newly- 

 ploughed ground, I never observed any action which 

 could produce the abraded appearance. I admit it is 

 very natural to attribute it to such a cause ; but is it 

 not a singular fact, telling strongly against this theory, 

 that in the extent of this bare skin there should be no 

 appreciable difference in one bird over another, but all 

 are equally denuded ? Surely, if it was produced by 

 digging, some variation in this would be noticeable, but 

 I never saw such ; the jackdaw, too, is as great a digger 

 as the rook, and has a shorter bill, and yet the base is 

 clothed with feathers which bear no trace of injury from 

 such a cause. The editor of The Field favoured me 

 with the following note on this point: "There was a 

 long discussion on this subject in The Field some years 

 since, and several instances were mentioned in which 

 rooks kept in confinement, where they could not dig, 

 nevertheless lost the feathers. We also received the 

 head of a rook in which the feathers were only partially 

 removed ; and those which yet remained were nearest 



