POUCH OF THE ROOK. 55 



a pouch under the bill, quite as well defined as 

 that which is seen in the rook. The idea would 

 then occur to him, that ornithologists have either 

 said too much, in stating that the rook is furnished 

 with a small pouch at the root of the tongue ; or 

 too little, in not telling us that the carrion crow, 

 the jay, the magpie, and the jackdaw are supplied 

 with a similar convenience. 



The real matter of fact is this, that naturalists 

 err when they ascribe a pouch to the rook. Though 

 at times there is an actual appearance of a pouch 

 under the bill of the rook, and also under the bills 

 of the other birds just enumerated, still, upon a 

 close inspection, it will be seen that there is no 

 pouch at all in any of them. The young of all 

 birds, from the size of the thrush to that of the 

 wren, are satisfied with a single worm at one 

 feeding, or with two at the most. Thus, in fields 

 and gardens, we see an old bird catch an insect, 

 and fly away immediately with it to the nest. But 

 food of this scanty measure would not be enough 

 for the larger kind of insectivorous birds. The 

 progeny would undoubtedly require more at each 

 feeding ; and, add to this, supposing the bird only 

 carried one insect at each turn, too much time 

 would be lost in passing to and from the nest. To 

 obviate this, as birds of the pie tribe have no 

 power, in health, to eject food which has descended 

 into the stomach (saving the indigestible remnants 

 of aliment, which are thrown up in the form of 

 pellets), they collect a considerable quantity of 



