Variation in the Plumage of the Common Rook. 69 



the wings and tail asliy-grey. The last time I saw it was 

 about the end of December. About the same time, a rook 

 with scapulars as briglitly white as those of the Magpie 

 {Pica rust lea) miglit often be seen feeding on bits of meat, 

 bread, etc., which the janitor of the New College is in the 

 habit of throwing out in front of it, or into the patch of 

 grass at the head of the Mound. White seems always to 

 have been the commonest variant. In Brown's recent " Life 

 of John Bunyan," there is an interesting reference to Thomas 

 Archer, the rector of Houghton-Conquest, the parish next 

 to Elstow. " The delightful old man kept a sort of 

 Chronicon miraUe of the little rural world in which he 

 spent his tranquil days — ' Memorandum. — That in Anno 

 1625, on Bonion of Elstow clyminge of Books neasts in the 

 Bery Wood ffound 3 Eookes in a neast, all white as milk, 

 and not a black fether on them.' " The Bonion mentioned 

 here was Thomas, father of the author of the "Pilgrim's 

 Progress." In Pontippidan's " Natural History of Norway," 

 the learned author says, under Corvus: — "In this country 

 there are some, though few, that are white, and some half 

 white, and half black" (1753). "A gentleman of this 

 neighbourhood," says the author of "The Natural History 

 of Selborne," "had two milk-white rooks in one nest. A 

 booby of a carter finding them before they were able to fly, 

 threw them down and destroyed them, to the great regret of 

 the owner, who would have been glad to have preserved such 

 a curiosity in his rookery. I saw the birds myself nailed 

 against the end of the barn, and was surprised to find that their 

 bills, legs, feet, and claws were milk-white " (1789). In 

 Jardine and Jesse's Edition of Selborne, 1850, the following 

 notes appear : — " The Common Book seems to be more subject 

 to white variation than its other British congeners. Species 

 entirely white are not often seen, but individuals, with 

 parts of the wings and tail pure white, occur in almost 

 every rookery " (Jardine). " Mr Yarrell informs us that 

 white, pied, and cream-coloured varieties of the rook 

 occasionally occur" (Jesse). "Albino individuals," says 

 Macgillivray, " sometimes occur either pure white, or more 

 frequently yellowish- white or cream-coloured, with the bill 



