12 BEAL, food of European Birds. Ta 
country replacing the JZe/o/ontha of Europe. It is in the next two 
items, the weevils, that the Rook shines resplendent. An average 
of over thirteen specimens of those small but very harmful beetles 
in each of the 131 stomachs is certainly a splendid showing. It 
is singular that none of these insects were eaten by the Rooks 
taken in Scotland. While many of these beetles were eaten by 
the Crow, they do not constitute so constant and important an 
item as in the case of the Rook. The Crow eats a considerable 
number of Carabid beetles, most of which are of the more pre- 
daceous species, while those eaten by the Rook are, for the chief 
part, the larve of Zabrus gibbus, a very destructive grain-eating 
species. Grasshoppers, which are extensively taken by the Crow, 
are conspicuously absent from the food.of the Rook. 
In the varieties of vertebrates eaten, the Rook is far behind the 
Crow. Only seventeen mice were found in the 131 stomachs taken 
in Germany, and none in those collected in Scotland. In no case 
did any stomach contain the remains of more than one. The 
Crow, on the other hand, not only preys upon mice and other 
small mammals but even captures young rabbits, and eats many 
snakes, young turtles, salamanders, frogs, toads and fish. The 
Crow also eats many crayfish and other smaller crustaceans which 
do not appear in the Rook’s bill of fare. 
In the matter of vegetable food the Rook does not seem to 
indulge in any great variety. It does, however, eat some potatoes, 
which the Crow rarely touches. The Crow eats about every kind 
of grain that the country produces, besides fruit and acorns or 
other mast. It appears to be far more omnivorous than the 
Rook ; in fact, it seems doubtful if there is anything eatable which 
a Crow will not eat, while, so far as shown, the Rook is quite 
exclusive. 
In Mr. Gilmour’s investigation of the food of the Wood Pigeon 
245 stomachs were examined. ‘They were quite evenly distributed 
through the year, but, like the Rooks, were all taken within a 
limited area. The contents of these stomachs are arranged in five 
groups, which, taken in the order of frequency, are as follows: 
(1) Cereal grains; (2) leaves; (3) other fruits and seeds; (4) 
roots; (5) flowers. Cereal grains were taken to the extent of 33 
per cent of the year’s food, by Mr. Gilmour’s method of calcula- 
