284 ROOK. Class II. 



same, the plumage of both being glossed with a 

 rich purple. But what chiefly distinguishes* 

 the rook from the crow is the bill ; the nostrils, 

 chin, and sides of that and the mouth being in 

 old birds white and bared of feathers, by often 

 thrusting the bill into the o-round in search of the 

 eruc(2 of the Dor-beetle ;| the rook then, in- 

 stead of being proscribed, should be treated as 

 the farmers friend ; as it clears his ground from 

 caterpillars, which do incredible damage by eat- 

 ing the roots of the corn. In Suffolk and part 

 of Norfolk, the farmers find it their interest to 

 encourage these birds. ]\Ir. Matthezcs, a most 

 excellent and observant farmer in Berkshire^ 

 assured Mr. Stilling fleet, that the rooks one 

 year, while his men were hoeing a field of tur- 

 nips, settled on a spot where they were not at 

 work, and that the crop proved very fine in 

 that part, whereas in the remainder it failed. J 

 Rooks are sociable birds, living in vast flocks : 

 crows go only in pairs. They begin to build 

 their nests in March : one bringing materials, 

 while the other v.atches the nest, lest it should 



* Another distinction arises from the form of the tail feathers, 

 the extremities of v.hich are much more rounded in the Rook 

 than in the Crow. Ed. 



■f" ScarabtEus rnelolonfha. Lin.syst. 351. RveseL ii. Tab i. 

 List. Goed. 265. 



X SiiUhgf eet'sTracls^Qd cdii. 175. „■ . . ..- 



