48 THE ROOK. 



plished this, should their vultures pine in famine, 

 by continuing to mistake canvass for carcass, why, 

 rot 'em, they may die, for aught I care to the 

 contrary. 



REMARKS ON THE NUDITY ON THE FORE- 

 HEAD AND AT THE BASE OF THE BILL OF 

 THE ROOK. 



" QUZE causa indigna serenos 



Foedavit vultus, aut cur haec nuda patescum ? " 



I HAVE more than once nearly made up my mind to 

 sit me down, some dismal winter's evening, and put 

 together a few remarks on the habits of the rook. 

 His regular flight, in congregated numbers, over my 

 house, in the morning to the west, and his return at 

 eve to the east, without the intermission of one single 

 day, from the autumnal to the vernal equinox, would 

 be a novel anecdote in the page of his biography. 

 To this might be added an explanation of the cause 

 of his sudden descent from a vast altitude in the 

 heavens, which takes place with such amazing rapid- 

 ity that it creates a noise similar to that of a rush- 

 ing wind. His mischief and his usefulness to man- 

 kind might be narrowly looked into, and placed in 

 so clear a light, that nobody could afterwards have 

 a doubt whether this bird ought to be protected as 

 a friend to a cultivated country, or banished from it 

 as a depredating enemy. 



I remember, some fifteen years ago, when I was 

 very anxious to divert a footpath which had become 



