630 Birds. 



breach was secured, the prisoners pinioned, and future escape ren- 

 dered impossible. 



I may here remark that the rook, in a state of confinement, is much 

 less docile and sociable than its congeners, the raven, the daw, and 

 carrion crow, all of which I have, at different times, domesticated. 

 This appears singular, when we consider the natural attachment of 

 the rook to the neighbourhood of man. 



One of these birds died during the autumnal moult, the remaining 

 two survived, and both continued in good health during the ensuing 

 winter and spring. When undergoing the first moult in the autumn, 

 the bristle-like feathers which covered the nostrils fell off very gradu- 

 ally, in common with the rest of the plumage, but were regularly re- 

 newed ; and when the winter arrived, neither of the birds exhibited 

 any symptoms of nudity on the throat, forehead, or upper part of the 

 beak, but were as perfectly fledged, in every respect, as the raven or 

 the carrion crow. 



On the approach of the breeding season, one of them appeared very 

 restless and uneasy, perpetually cawing and running about the cage, 

 or thrusting his head between the bars, and now and then turning a 

 wistful glance upwards, as some of his wild brethren of the rookery 

 passed to and fro overhead. I noticed one morning, that some of the 

 bristle-like feathers near the forehead were partially abraded, as well 

 as a few at the base of the lower mandible. I felt much surprised at 

 the moment, but a few hours patient observation sufficed to point out 

 the cause, which was simple enough. Since the commencement of 

 his restless fits this bird had contracted the habit of thrusting his head 

 between two of the horizontal bars of the cage which lay near to, and 

 parallel with, his favourite perch. The space was not sufficiently 

 wide to allow of his projecting more than the entire beak, the upper 

 and lower portions of which were thus respectively brought into con- 

 tact with two of the bars. In this attitude he would run along the 

 perch sideways, and this constant trituration had the effect of produ- 

 cing the partial loss of feathers which had attracted my attention. 



This bird died soon afterwards, after having lived for nearly a year 

 in a state of confinement. 



The last bird survived to complete his second moult, when he, too, 

 perished. I preserved his skin, which, as well as that of his prede- 

 cessor, is now in my collection. The feathers of this rook were per- 

 fect at the time of his death. Those portions of the head and throat 

 which, in the wild adult rook, are observed to be naked, did not, at 

 any period, in this individual, exhibit the remotest tendency to be- 



