6. MISCELLANEOUS. 



THE VERDICT ON THE ROOK. 



During- 1909 I conducted a somewhat extensive investigation upon 

 the feeding habits of the Rook, 1 and some few observations upon 

 the same may not be*without interest to Midland agriculturists. 



It should be pointed out that for a considerable number of years 

 agriculturists have contended that the rook was doing considerable 

 harm to their crops, which far outweighed any good it did in destroy- 

 ing injurious insects, millipedes, etc. On the other hand a large 

 section of the Press and public claimed that it was a really valuable 

 bird to the farmer, and that its destruction would be followed by great 

 losses. 



It is only natural to assume that farmers generally had a more 

 intimate knowledge of the habits of this bird than the general public, 

 but in order to definitely decide what the actual food consisted of, the 

 Land Agents' Society suggested a thorough inquiry that should take 

 count of the food from January to December, and in practically every 

 county in England. In all 631 post mortems were made during 1909, 

 to which were added the results of 58 made of birds shot in 

 the Midland Counties during previous years, and 141 made on a 

 Northamptonshire estate, so that the total number was 830. 



The specimens were received from forty-five correspondents, four 

 of whom reported the birds to be very abundant, thirty-four stated 

 abundant, five not abundant, and two made no comment. 



There is ample evidence that the rook has greatly increased during 

 the past ten years, and it is common knowledge that where bird-life 

 increases in this manner over a number of years, there is usually a 

 change in the food-habits, and this is exactly what has taken place in 

 the case of the rook. From an insect-eating bird, or at least a bird 

 whose food consisted mainly of animal matter, it has become a grain 

 feeder. 



Of the 631 rooks above mentioned the amount of animal food for 

 the twelve months found in their gizzards was only 15 per cent, of the 

 total food contents. Seventy per cent, consisted of grain, 15 per cent. 



1 Journ. Land Agents' Soc., 1910, vol. ix, pp. 183-201. 



