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Upper Egypt." In North-west Africa it is rare ; and Loche states that it only accidentally occurs 

 in Algeria. 



To the eastward the Rook is met with as far as India. Mr. Blanford writes that he " saw 

 no Eooks in Persia, nor has any one observed them in Southern Persia. De Filippi shot some 

 at Kasvin, to which Major St. John adds the following note : — ' I have never noticed the Rook 

 south of Isfahan, and there, as at Tehran, only in winter. A considerable colony breed in some 

 lofty trees in a garden in the town of Kasvin.' " Dr. Jerdon, who records it as occurring in 

 India, writes (B. of India, ii. p. 302) that " it is found in the Punjab in the cold weather, and 

 also in Cashmere. Dr. Saunders, of the Bengal Army, first informed me of this ; and it has been 

 subsequently confirmed by several observers. It is also a winter visitant to Afghanistan. As in 

 England, it feeds chiefly on ploughed lands." Severtzoff says (Turk. Jevotnie, p. 63) that it 

 breeds throughout Turkestan, at an altitude of from 3000 to 4000 feet, frequenting the steppes 

 and wooded districts. Excepting in South-eastern Turkestan, where some remain throughout the 

 year in the Zarevshan valley, near the Syr Darja, and at Kisil-cum, it migrates southward during 

 the winter. I do not find it recorded from Siberia ; and in Japan and China it is replaced by a 

 very closely allied form, C. pastinator, Gould, which differs in having the head and neck glossed 

 with purple, and not with green ; and Mr. Swinhoe informs me it never has the chin denuded of 

 feathers, but merely the upper part of the bill. 



In its habits the Rook is essentially gregaiious, both during the breeding-season and also 

 during the winter, and, unlike the Carrion-Crow and the Hooded Crow, it invariably breeds in 

 larger or smaller societies, forming in some parts very extensive rookeries. It feeds principally 

 in cultivated ground, frequently following the ploughman and picking up the worms and grubs 

 which are exposed to view as he turns up the furrow ; and it is consequently a much commoner 

 species wherever cultivation is extended, being, on the other hand, rare in wild, rocky, and 

 uncultivated districts — though, following the footsteps of the farmer, it is gradually extending its 

 range as these districts by degrees get brought under the plough. Feeding chiefly on insects of 

 various kinds, it is on the whole a useful bird, though it must be allowed that it sometimes 

 devours the eggs and young of other birds ; and Macgillivray relates that he has caught Rooks 

 in traps baited with eggs, set for Carrion-Crows and Magpies. Much depends on the nature of 

 the country whether the present species can be looked on as useful or otherwise ; for in districts 

 entirely under cultivation there can be little doubt that, owing to the large number of destructive 

 insects of various sorts devoured by the Rook, it is of the greatest utility, whereas in those 

 localities where but comparatively little soil is under cultivation, and the game is strictly pre- 

 served, a rookery may well be looked on as a doubtful kind of blessing ; for when grubs and 

 other insects are not at hand the Rook is quite ready to supplement its meal with any thing in 

 reason that may be within reach. Mr. Cecil Smith writes to me, from what he has seen of the 

 Rook, " its appetite and digestion are perfectly astonishing ; nothing seems to come amiss to 

 it: besides its lawful and useful food of grubs, worms, &c, I have seen it kill and eat a young 

 rabbit ; and young ducks or duck's eggs have no chance ; flesh, either fresh or stale, raw or cooked, 

 walnuts in any quantity. Near the sea I have seen Rooks picking up and eating sand-eels and 

 other small fish after the seine has been drawn, and squabbling with the Gulls for mussels on 

 the mussel-beds ; these it breaks in the same way as the Gulls, taking them up to a height and 



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