102 CORVID.E. 



gated, and much curved. Now it is evident that the bird, 

 possessing a bill thus formed, could not thrust it into the 

 ground in search of worms and the larvae of insects, as the 

 Rook is known to do habitually; and, accordingly, the 

 plumage at the base of the bill of this individual, and the 

 bristly feathers which cover its nostrils, are very con- 

 spicuous ; not having sustained the slightest injury. The 

 opinion, entertained by many persons, that the naked con- 

 dition of the nostrils and anterior part of the head is an 

 original peculiarity in the Rook, is thus satisfactorily 

 proved to be incorrect : indeed the fact that young Rooks 

 exhibit no deficiency in these particulars, is sufficiently con- 

 clusive on this point ; but the possibility of an entire 

 species being endowed with an instinct destructive of a 

 usual portion of its organization, was probably never con- 

 templated by these observers ; it is not surprising, there- 

 fore, that the inference, deduced from a partial view of the 

 subject, should be erroneous." 



I have figured at page 90, a representation of an elonga- 

 tion of the under mandible in a Rook. I have now in my 

 collection an example of a Rook in which the upper man- 

 dible is still more elongated and curved downwards, so as 

 to render it most improbable that this bird could have ob- 

 tained any part of its food by digging ; yet in this speci- 

 men the skin around the base of the under mandible, is 

 quite destitute of feathers. This would indicate that the 

 want of feathers on the throat, which in this instance could 

 not have been induced by abrasion when digging, was a 

 specific peculiarity; but it is also possible that this na- 

 kedness might have been produced before the alteration in 

 the form of the beak had taken place, and the bulbs from 

 which the feathers arise, having been once injured might 

 afterwards remain unproductive. 



