156 Recently published OrnitJioloyical Works. 



like other members of tlie Crow family, while in the adults 

 the face and chin ai'e quite bare of feathers, and it is a 

 curious fact that in the case of so common a bird this 

 change has never been properly investigated^ indeed it has 

 been suggested that the Rook gets its bare face by digging 

 for worms ! 



Mr. Witherby has taken up this question, and has been 

 able to examine Rooks obtained nearly every week throughout 

 tlie year, and he here gives the results of his studies. 



The young Rook, whose face is fully feathered, moults his 

 face and chin in July or August, but the face-feathers are 

 quickly replaced by new ones; though Mr. Witherby believes 

 that he can detect some signs of degeneracy even then. In 

 January, or even a month or two later, a second face-moult 

 begins. The face-feathers now drop out and are replaced 

 by " pins''^ and a few very degenerate plumule-like feathers ; 

 the bare skin at first is pink and soft but gets hard and 

 whitish, while plumules and pins wear dowai, though remnants 

 of them can be seen with a glass even in the autumn. At 

 the second autumn moult and every subsequent one, while the 

 chin becomes covered with a blackish grey down of plumules 

 the sides of the face only produce a few minute bristles, 

 and these, at least the chin-down, disappear before January 

 by abrasion, leaving this space quite bare until the following 

 autumn. 



Mr. Witherby's paper is illustrated by a series of photo- 

 graphs showing the Rook's chin at various seasons and ages, 

 and we must congratulate him on having carried through a 

 sound piece of work. 



Migration Report for 1912. 



[Eeport on the immigrations of summer residents in the spring of 1912: 

 also notes on the migratory movements and records received from light- 

 houses and light-vessels during the autumn of 1911. By the Committee 

 appointed by the British Ornithologists' Club. Being Volume xxxii. of 

 the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club. London (Witherby), 

 1913. 8vo.] 



This is the eighth report of the Committee of the B, O. C, 

 the members of which were first elected in December 1901 



