ROOK. 549 



CORVUS FRUGILEGUS. 



ROOK. 



(Plate 16.) 



Corvus comix frugilega, Briss. Orn, ii. p. 16 (1760). 



Corvus frugilegus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 156 (1786) ; et auctorum plurimomm— 



Temminck, Ncmmann, Gould, Schleyel, dray, fSalvadori, Dresser, Newton, &c. 

 Colceus frugilegus (Linn.), Kaup, Natiirl. Sijst. p. 114 (1829). 

 CoiYUS agi-icola, Trist. Proe. Zool. Soc. 1864, p. 444. 

 Trypanocorax frugilegus (Linn.), Loche, Expl. Sci. Alger., Ois. i. p. 113 (1867). 



Few birds are better known tban the Rook ; its noisy gatherings and 

 its habit of building in colonies make it a bird well known and in- 

 teresting to all. It is found commonly in most parts of England and 

 Wales, as well as of Ireland, wherever the country is not too barren 

 to afford it a pasture and a nesting-place. Few indeed are the country 

 mansions or villages that do not possess their rookery. But the Rook does 

 not always settle close to man's habitation ; for in the High Peak, for 

 instance, there are several rookeries in small plantations on tbe bleak 

 hills above Castleton, whilst in the trees near Peveril Castle in the same 

 district another small colony occurs. Northwards the Rook becomes less 

 common. In Scotland it is rapidly increasing in numbers and extending 

 its range as tree-planting is more extensively pursued. It is found, although 

 at present locally, throughout Scotland as far north as the Orkneys and 

 Shetlands, but is said only very recently to have begun to breed in the 

 latter localities. In Skye the Rook is spreading; and at Dunvegan 

 tbere is an extensive rookery quite recently established in a large planta- 

 tion, the most westerly breeding-place of the bird in Scotland. It has 

 establisbed colonies even m the wilder parts of Argyleshire and West 

 Sutherlandshire. Large flocks of Rooks sometimes wander across to the 

 Outer Hebrides; and it is very probable that the day is not far distant 

 when colonies will be formed there. It also occasionally strays to the 

 Faroes. This increase of the Rook is viewed by shepherds and farmers 

 with no little anxiety ; and in some parts of Scotland the bird is rigoroiisly 

 persecuted ; for it may be harmless enough iu England, where its feeding- 

 grounds are so large, but in Scotland, where its pastures are small, it may 

 possibly take a leaf from the Carrion-Crow's book and become a pest. The 

 Rook does not breed in the Channel Islands, and is only an accidental 

 visitant to Guernsey, in severe winters sometimes occurring in large 

 flocks. 



The Rook breeds throughout Central and Southern Europe as far 



