ON THE NUDITY OF THE ANTERIOR PART OF 
THE HEAD OF THE ROOK 
(Corvus frugilegus). 
See ees 
BewIck, in treating upon the Rook in his ‘ History 
of British Birds,’ vol. i. p. 71, has remarked that 
he is inclined to regard the naked condition of 
the base of the bill and the anterior region of the 
head in this species as an original peculiarity, appar- 
ently intending to intimate thereby a belief that at 
no period of its existence are the parts in question 
covered with feathers—a construction of the passage 
which is countenanced by his having omitted to 
notice the fact that young Rooks, before their first 
moult, do not exhibit this deficiency of plumage. 
Now as. young Rooks, when they quit the nest, have 
the base of the bill and the anterior part of the head 
amply provided with feathers, the question naturally 
arises, how is the nudity of these parts in old birds 
occasioned ? 
In the year 1834, I advocated the opinion, preva- 
lent among ornithologists, that the loss of the feathers 
alluded to above is attributable to the habit which 
