226 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



country in which the bird finds itself in the breed- 

 ing-season : it is made of sticks and straw, and lined 

 with wool and hair. 



The Hooded Crow has the beak black and strong ; 

 irides dark brown ; head, cheeks, throat and neck in 

 front shining bluish black ; wings and tail the same ; 

 nape of the neck, back, rump and all the under sur- 

 face smoke-grey; the shafts of the feathers dark 

 slate-grey;* legs, toes and claws shining black. 

 Varieties of this bird occasionally occur, and it is 

 said also sometimes to cross with the Carrion 

 Crow. 



The egg is mottled all over with greenish brown 

 on a light green ground : it is rather smaller than 

 that of the Carrion Crow. 



BOOK, Cot-vus frugilegus. The Rook, as everyone 

 knows, is one of our commonest birds, and may be 

 seen in large flocks in all parts of the county at any 

 time of the year : it is so numerous throughout 

 England generally, and is so diligent in search of 

 its food in all the cultivated lands, that the benefit or 

 damage done by this bird to the agriculturist has 

 formed the subject of much dispute, and a good deal 

 has been written on both sides of the question. 

 The truth is, after all, that the Book does both good 

 and harm, and must, like most other birds, be 

 judged by the preponderance of one over the other : 



* Yarrell, vol. ii., p. 93. 



