^9 



EOOK 



CORVUS FRUGILEGUS, Linn. 



Corvus frugileguSj Linn. S. N. i. p. 156 (1766) ; Naum. ii. 

 p. 78; Macg. i. p. 535 ; Hewitson, i. p. 226; Yarr. ed. 4, 

 ii. p. 289; Dresser^ iv. p. 551. 



Corbeau-Freux, French ; Saat-Kr'dhe, German ; Graja, 

 Spanish. 



It is not probable that I can tell any of my country- 

 men, who care sufficiently about birds to look at this 

 work, anything that they do not already know about 

 this well-known and most respectable of British Crows, 

 although I confess that I am myself anxious for infor- 

 mation upon certain points concerning his little ways 

 and customs. Why, for instance, do the very great 

 majority of old Rooks, with their young that escape the 

 annual shooting, leave their breeding-localities altogether 

 for several weeks during the summer ? and whither do 

 they betake themselves ? At Lilford a very large number 

 of Rooks breed in scattered colonies within a short 

 distance of the house, and, from the beginning of October 

 till the nesting-time arrives, one of our coverts is the 

 roosting-resort of many thousands of these birds that 



