R O O 



tional coll, in the firft in fiance, may be the faving of ten 

 times the fum in the end. 



In the work of repairing buildings of this nature, the 

 roofing claims equally the regard of the manager, with thole 

 of the foundations and other external parts. But the infide 

 works, in all cafes, more commonly and properly demand 

 the notice of the occupiers. 



ROOGEN, in Geography, a town of the duchy of 

 Courland ; 36 miles E.N.E. of Pilty.i. 



ROOK, in Ornithology, a well-known bird of the crow- 

 kind. See Corvus Frugilegus. 



Great care mould be taken to guard againlt thefe 

 mifchievous birds at the time when the wheat is juft 

 ihooting up ; for they perceive it (hooting much fooner 

 than the farmer can, and are led by the (hoot to pick it 

 up. They mult therefore be carefully kept off the ground 

 until about a week or ten days after this feafon ; for at the 

 end of that time the blade will be grown up, and the grain 

 fo exhaufted of its fubitance, that they will not givethem- 

 felves any trouble to pick it out of the ground. They 

 feldom or ever moleit the wheat, which is fown about 

 Michaelmas ; becaufe fo mm ',1 grain of the late harvelt then 

 lies fcattered about the fields, that they find it much eafier 

 to pick up there, than to fearch for corn under ground in aew- 

 fown lands. They often do harm when the fnow is going off 

 from the green wheat towards the end of winter ; for 

 having been pinched for food during that feafon, they then 

 greedily pluck up the young plants, in order to come at 

 the remainder of the feeds Hill adhering to their roots ; 

 and are greatly affilted in this by the loofe Hate of the earth 

 at that time. 



And they are alfo highly deftruftive to pea and bean 

 crops in the early fpring fealon, when they firlt appear 

 above the ground, as they dig up the whole, both root and 

 item, even when considerably advanced in growth. They 

 mult, therefore, be kept off with great care. A great 

 many contrivances have been invented to frighten them 

 away, fuch as feathers ftuck up, the limbs of rooks fcat- 

 tered about the ground, dead rooks hung on fticks, the 

 gun, a boy to halloo, and tofs a dead rook up in the air. 

 Mr. Tull found this lalt to be the molt effectual. It is 

 probable, however, that firing at them frequently with a 

 gun is the molt certain means of deterring them from 

 doing fuch injuries, as they have a great diflike to the fmell 

 of gunpowder. 



It is remarked by Mr. Marlhall, in his Rural Economy of 

 Norfolk, that the method of frightening rooks in practice 

 there, especially when they take to patches of corn, which 

 are lodged before harvelt, is limply to Hick up a tall bough 

 in the part infellcd ; and it a gun be fired near the place, 

 before the bou.;h is fet up, this limple expedient feldom 

 fails of being effectual. And that if rooks make an attack 

 after feed-time, or whin they take generally to the crop 

 before harvelt, a boy is fet to fcare them ; they being fel- 

 dom attempted to be (hot at in Norfolk ; where a notion 

 prevails, and is perhaps well founded] that rooks are ell'en- 

 tially ufeful to the farmer, in picking up worms and grubs ; 

 efpccially the grub of the cock chaffer, which, it is believed, 

 is frequently injurious to the meadows and marines of that 

 country. This opinion alfo prevails in other diitri&s, and 

 has moll probably fome foundation in truth, as they are 

 often fcen to follow the plough clofe to pick up fuch 

 grubs. 



It has indeed been ftated, and fuppofed by fome, that 



thefe birds do as much good by the deltructinu of grubs 



infect.8, worms, and other limilar forts of animals, as they 



produce mifehtef bv their attacks and ravages on the crops 



Vol. XXX. 



It o o 



of the farmer ; an inftance in favour of which is noticed to 

 have occurred on the Yorkfhire fide of the county of Lan- 

 ealter, where it is faid they wholly devoured, deflroved, 

 and removed fome fort of infefts, which, like locufts, 'had 

 feized upon and taken poffefiion of the grafs-plants of a 

 large track of grafs-land in that neighbourhood in the early 

 fprmg feafon, and nearly eat up and confumed the whole of 

 it, to the very great alarm of the farmers of the vicinity; 

 but which, on the firft flight of the young rooks, were 

 loon oblerved to be completely eaten up and deftroyed, as 

 was evident from the frefh grafs quickly fpringing up and 

 the furface becoming green again. 



Thefe birds are, however, in general confidered as the 

 greatelt pelts and plagues of the farmers in the above and 

 fome other northern diltridts, as they not only deflroy 

 the feed-wheat when newly fown, but drag out of the earth 

 the fpires of the grain or pulfe feeds with them altogether, 

 in the manner already fuggeited. 



They are alfo, in thefe dillrids, equally deftru&ive of 

 the potatoe crops, both at the time of fetting or putting 

 them into the ground, and when they arc coming up, as 

 they eat and drag them out with great eagernefs, thereby 

 cauling much irregularity and mifchief in them. That they 

 may fometimes, however, be ufeful in the above manner 

 may readily be fuppofed ; but they exift in fuch vait num- 

 bers in thefe, and fome other parts of the country, that 

 the ravages and injuries which they commit, very greatly 

 preponderate over any good they are capable of perform- 

 ing in the ways that have been already ftated. 



They are, on the whole, an impudent and mifchievous race 

 of birds, with which, all the means the farmer can poffibly 

 take in the way of fearing them, are too often of very little 

 avail. They frequently go to very great diftances, fo that 

 the ravages they are productive of are of an extenfive 

 nature, and not confined to particular places or tra&s of 

 country only. The only fafety for the farmer, therefore, 

 feems to conljltin the prevention of their breeding and rear- 

 ing their young, and their deflruftion and eradication, as 

 much as poffible, in other ways. See Rookery. 



ROOKE, Lawrence, in Biography, an able mathema- 

 tician, was defcended from a refpeftable family, and born 

 at Deptford, in Kent, in the year 1623. He was educated 

 in grammar-learning at Eton fchool, whence he removed, in 

 1639, to King's college, in the univerfity of Cambridge, 

 where he took his degrees. In 1650 he went to Oxford, 

 where he had apartments in Wadham college, for the fake 

 of improving in the fociety of Dr. Wilkins, and Mr. Seth 

 Ward. He at length became a fellow-commoner of the 

 college, and made it his principal place of reiidence for fome 

 years, during which he affilted Mr. Boyle in his chemical 

 experiments. In 1652, Mr. Rooke was elected profeflor of 

 altronomy at Grefham college, and in the fame year lie 

 made fome obfervations, at Oxford, on the comet which 

 appeared in the month of December, and which obferva- 

 tions were printed by Mr. Ward in 1653. Li 1657, Mr. 

 Rooke exchanged the agronomical profefforfhip at Grefham 

 college for that of geometry. He was one of tin- gentle- 

 men by whole exertions the Royal Society was lull formed, 

 though he did not live long enough to fee it rtl.ibhlhed by 

 the royal charter. Among the men of rank who cultivated 

 his acquaintance waa the marquis of Dorchefter, who was 

 not only a patron of learning, but very learned himlelf ; and 

 after the reft oration, that nobleman frequently entertained 

 Mr. Rooke as a vilitor at his feat at Highgate, whence he 

 ufed to bring him in his carriage every Wednefday to the 

 Royal Society, which then met weekly at Grefham college. 

 Mr. Rooke had always a tender conlt'itution, and walking 

 3 S from 



