CROWS. 155 



in truth different species and not accidental varieties, 

 depending in some measure upon climate and food, or 

 upon age) is, in its general appearance, so much alike, 

 that any body that has seen the one cannot be at a 

 loss to know the other. There are also enough of 

 differences for distinguishing the one from the other. 

 The bill of the rook is a ploughshare ; that of the 

 others a sword, or a butcher's knife. The rook has it 

 longer and not so dark in the colour, or so thick and 

 curved in the upper mandible. The carrion and 

 hooded crows, if they be different species, have some- 

 thing much more repulsive in their appearance than 

 the rook; and in the Lowlands of Scotland where 

 they (or it) and the rook are familiarly known, the 

 difference of manners and of the colours of the beaks 

 have together made one of the names of the " hoody," 

 which is " black nib, 1 ' a cant phrase for a person not 

 to be trusted. The bill of the rook is rendered more 

 apparently white by the abrasion of the feathers at the 

 base, in digging up the earth in quest of its favourite 

 food. The difference of the notes, also, is very ob- 

 vious; and leads those who visit the highlands and 

 do not attend to the 'difference of the species, to say 

 that the crows in that part of the country speak 

 Gaelic as well as the people. The note of the rook, 

 though a little harsh in solo, is clear ; while that of the 

 crow, though it has none of the sepulchral tone of the 

 raven's croak, would lead one to suppose that the 

 bird is always in a state of disease, that it is hoarse, 

 and feels pain when attempting to give utterance. 



Rooks are sprightly birds, and while they appear 

 to be fond of the society of each other, they have 



