VOL. XV.] SOME NOTES ON THE ROOK. 15 



When the young were a day or two old I noticed that the 

 female Rook swallowed the excrement of the young, frequently 

 waiting at the side of the nest for the sac. On only two 

 occasions did I observe the male to do likewise. He would 

 seize the excrement, hop on to one of the outer branches and 

 drop it to the ground. When the young were about ten 

 days old the female followed his example. 



The principal food of the young consisted of worms. 



The male proved himself a very devoted parent. He did 

 practically all the foraging for food, his better half either 

 brooding the young, or perching on a branch near the nest. 



The distended pouch of the male was very noticeable on 

 his return with food. Sometimes he would share the meal 

 with the female and both birds would feed the chicks at the 

 same time ; on other occasions he would ignore his mate 

 and feed the young himself. 



At times the female would caw incessantly, asking him 

 for food. On one such occasion I saw him deliberately 

 (when his pouch was full) turn his back on her and hop on 

 to another branch. 



About the time the young were due to leave the nest the 

 female became very uneasy. She would hop from branch 

 to branch near the nest, then on to the nest, appear to talk 

 to the youngsters, then hop on to a branch just above and 

 try to entice them to her side. One chick stood at the edge 

 of the nest and flapped his wings, but evidently thought the 

 branch above too high, so squatted on the nest side. The 

 mother appeared to get very angry and, with incessant caw- 

 ing and flapping of wings^ she finally flew down to the nest^ 

 then back to the branch, again calling to the chick, which 

 plucked up courage and flew on to the branch beside her. 

 The other young Rooks in the nest made not the slightest 

 effort to respond to her calls, but on the following day I 

 arrived just in time to photograph them all leaving the nest 

 with " the wide world before them." 



