I5(; HISTOUY OF 



neck, being of a pale asb colour; tbe head and wings glossed over 

 with a fine blue. He is a bird of passage, visiting this kuigdom 

 in the beginning of winter, and lea%'ing it in the spring. He 

 breeds, however, in different parts of the British dominions; and 



multitudes, both in their evening assembly, and reascension in *!;« "^™- 

 and the depredations they commit in tl.e immediate nmghbourUood of ha 

 great resort, are almost incredible. Whole fields of corn are sometime, la^d 

 waste by thousands aUghting on it at once, with -PP'^*''<^'„r;S^o pre 

 fast of tlie preceding night; and the utmost vigilance - "°^ J^^f^j^^^^^ 

 vent at least, a partial destruction of this their favourite grain. Like th« 

 strt^gLrs of an immense, undisciplined, and rapacious army, hey sprea. 

 themfelves over the fields, to plunder and destroy wherever they alight 

 It is here that the character of the crow is umversally execrated, and to 

 l; t the man who ha. lost his crop of corn by these -^-d'. "j^^ "-^ f^ 

 exceedingly usefiU for destroying vermin, would be as consolatory ^ to teU 

 hta who hid just lost his house and furniture by the flames, that fires are 



excellent for destroying bugs. ,,t^„toH hv the 



The strong attachment of the crows to this spot may be il ustrated by the 

 folTowing circumstance : Some years ago. a sudden and violent northe^t 

 storm ca^e on during the night, and the tide, rising to an uncommon hei^^ 

 Sated the whole island. The darkness of the night, ^^^^^^^-^^^^' 

 violence of the storm, and the incessant torrents of rain that fell, it is snp- 

 ^osed" so intimidated the crows, that they did not attempt to escape and a^- 

 ^ost all perished. Thousands of them were next day seen floatn.g in the 

 rTve andthewina. shifting to the northwest, drove their dead bodies to 

 tTe Je'rsey side, where for miles they blackened the whole shore. Tins dis. 

 Ster, howeve;. seems long ago to have been repaired ; for they now con. 

 gregate on the Pea Patch in as immense multitudes as ever. 



Mr Knapp in his Journal of a Naturalist, has taken a pleasing and fa^ 

 vouraWe vievof the rook.-Gesner (he says) has -"e^ the common rook 

 lZvtfrusi,e,us) a corn-eating bird. Li"-- '^^ZZ^et^^^^ 

 this epithet by considering it only as a gatherer of corn ; to neither ol ™i 

 nal s L I bJueve it entitled, as it appears to '-e solely upon grubs^van 

 ous insects and worms. It has at times great difficulty to support its life, 

 and nTdy spring or summer most of these are hidden in the earth beyond 

 ,t, reach except at those uncertain periods when the grub of the chaffer is 

 I be foind and in a hot day we see the poor birds Per^-bulating he 

 Tel .and wandering by the sides of the highways -eking^r -d fe ng 

 ,,T>nn (rrasshonpers, or any casual nourishment that may be found. At those 

 ^es. «"s not ^or its 'breakfast of dew worms, which it catches in th. 

 IrT^f the morning, as it is appointed the earliest of risers it would cora- 

 Sy be finished.'' In the hot summer of 1825, --yot^ung brood 

 of the season perished from want; the mormngs were without <!«*.»"" 

 conseauently few or no worms were to be obtained; and we found them 

 Zd under the rees. having expired on their roostings. It was particular- 



complaint ; but the wants of their offsprmg were expressed bj ">- J^"^ 

 ing cry of hunger, and pursuit of th.ir parents for supply, and our 



