397 



branch Forcibly upwards, and then suddenly releases it, so as to jerk the cones from their 

 stems by the recoil. 



The practice of terrifying Rooks by means of scarecrows has already been mentioned, 

 together with its usual failure. Even the bodies of slaughtered Rooks suspended from 

 sticks have but little effect on these audacious birds, who may be seen very unconcernedly 

 searching below the carcases for the beetles and other carrion-eating insects that are 

 always found in such localities. The surest way to frighten the Rooks by means of dead 

 comrades is not to hang them up in a position which every Rook knows is not likely to be 

 assumed by any of its friends, and therefore conveys no intimation of alarm to its logical 

 mind, but to lay them flat upon the earth with outstretched neck and spread wings as if 

 they had fallen dead from something evil in the locality. Another useful method is to 

 post a number of sticks in double rows and connect them with each other by strings tied 

 in zigzag fashion, when it will be found that the Rooks are so suspicious of a trap, that 

 they will not venture to enter any of the angles so formed. 



The second subject of controversy is the presence of a bare white skin upon the 

 forehead of the adult Rook and the base of its neck, those portions being clothed with 

 feathers during the bird's youth. 



The general opinion was, that the bird, by constantly delving in the soil, wore off all 

 the feathers, only leaving the white skin behind. This solution of the problem was 

 current for a long time, until some observer remarked that the base of the bill showed no 

 particular marks of hard wear ; that the bald space extended behind the line of the eyes, 

 so that the bird could not possibly plunge its beak to so great a depth ; that the white 

 skin was evidently an intentional arrangement, and was too well defined at the edges to 

 have been produced by the operation of digging, and must in that case always vary with 

 the soil and the kind of food ; moreover, there are many other birds which have bald 

 spaces on their persons, such as the vultures and the turkey, and that in their case no 

 theory of friction is required by which the phenomenon can be accounted for. 



Matters having proceeded thus far, dissection was next employed, and it was observed 

 that although feather bulbs could be found within the white skin, they were shrivelled and 

 useless for the production of feathers. Experiments were then tried, wherein sundry young 

 Rooks were kept caged, and denied access to any earth or mouldy substances ; and in 

 every case except one (and probably in that case also when the bird had attained maturity) 

 the feathers with which the base of the back were covered fell off in the course of 

 moulting, and were never replaced by fresh plumage. Every ornithologist knows well 

 that many birds when young are distinguished by feathery or hairy tufts, as in the 

 case of the Leatherhead, figured in page 219 of this work, which, when young, is 

 decorated with a tuft of plumy hair upon its head ; but after the moult, loses its cranial 

 ornament. Mr. Simeon pertinently remarks, in allusion to this controversy, that a similar 

 phenomenon may be seen in the human race, the forehead of a baby being often covered 

 with fine downy hairs, which fall off as the child grows ; and that in the elephants of 

 Ceylon, the young is often clothed with a thick woolly fur over its head and fore-parts 

 when born, but loses its covering as it approaches maturity. Altogether it seems that 

 those who advocate the naturally bare forehead and beak have the best of the 

 argument. 



The habits of the Rook are very interesting, and easily watched. Its extreme caution 

 is very remarkable, when combined with its attachment to human homes. A colony of 

 a thousand birds may form a rookery in a park, placing themselves under the protection 

 of its owner ; and yet, if they see a man with a gun, or even with a suspicio\is-looking 

 stick, they fly off their nests with astounding clamour, and will not return until the cause 

 of their alarm is dissipated. During the "Rook-shooting" time, all the strong- winged 

 birds leave theii nests at the first report of the gun, and, rising to an enormous elevation; 

 sail about like so many black midges over their deserted homes, and pour out their 

 complaints in loud and doleful cries, which are plainly audible even from the great height 

 at which they are soaring. The voice of the Rook is too well known to need description, 

 and the bird is rather capricious in the utterance of its hoarse cry, sometimes keeping 

 a prolonged silence, and at other times cawing about incessantly, 



