THE ROOK'S BILL. 303 



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 insects in their mouth, and they confine them there, 

 without letting them go down the throat. By this process, a rook 

 is enabled to pick up a sufficient supply of food, some miles from 

 the nest ; and when its mouth will hold no more insects, the bird 

 takes flight and carries them to its expecting brood. The carrion 

 crow, the jay, the magpie, and the jackdaw do the same thing pre- 

 cisely. Now, the gathered insects, being prevented from descending 

 into the stomach, and at the same time not being able to escape at 

 the bill, must necessarily form a lump under the lower mandible, 

 where the skin, in all birds, is admirably formed for distension. 

 This lump is what has given rise to the notion among naturalists, 

 that the rook is furnished with a pouch at the root of the tongue. 

 If this pouch be allowed in the rook, then it must be admitted that 

 all birds are furnished with a pouch ; and it must also be admitted 

 that our tars are furnished with a pouch betwixt the mouth and the 

 ear, because, for convenience sake, they stow away their quid in that 

 quarter. 



It may be easily accounted for, why ornithologists make no men- 

 tion of a pouch under the tongue of the jay, the jackdaw, the mag- 

 pie, and the carrion crow, while they describe, with such plausibility, 

 a pouch at the root of the tongue of the rook. The reason is this 

 the rook, in general, is the friend of man, and, in the breeding 

 season, he becomes so tame that he may be approached within a few 

 yards. This gives you a fine opportunity of observing the lump 

 under the bill, when the skin in that part is distended with a supply 

 of food. Indeed, you can observe it at a considerable distance, 

 either while the bird is on the ground, or when it is flying across 

 you, on account of its white appearance, contrasted with the sable 

 plumage. On the other hand, the carrion crow, the magpie, the jay, 



