114- o^^ciTHOLogr. IwTi. 



Manner of They build many together upon high trees about Gentlemens houfes, who are 

 breeding. muc ^ delighted with the noife they make in breeding time. Both Cock and Hen fit 

 Eggs. by turns. Their Eggs are like Crows, butleiTer, fpottedwith greater fpots, efpeci- 

 ally about the blunt end. 



Ihavebeentoldbyaworthy Gentleman oi Sujfex, who himfelf obferved it, that 

 when Rooks build, one of the Pair always fits by to watch the Neft, till it be fini'fhed, 

 whilft the other goes about to fetch materials. Elfe if both go, and leave the Neft 

 unfiniihed, ( as fometimes they venture to do) their fellow-Hooks ere they return 

 again, will have rob'd and carried away to their feveral Nefts all their fticks, and 

 whatever elfe they had got together. Hence perhaps the word Rooking with us is 

 ufed for cheating or abufing. 

 How to fright Thefe Birds are noifbme to Corn and Grain : So that the Husbandmen are forced 

 tiem away. tQ emp j oy Children with hooting, and Crackers, and Rattles of Metal, and finally, 

 with throwing of (tones to fcare them away. Such as have no Servants or Children 

 to fpare for fucha purpofe, makeufe of other devices 5 either of Mills made with 

 Sails, to be turned by the Wind, making a continual mapping as they turn, where- 

 with they fright the. birds,or of Bugbears, or (as we call them ) Scare-Crows placed up 

 and down the fields, and drefled up in a Country habit, which the birds taking for 

 Country men dare not come near the grounds where they ftand. 



I was alio told by the fore-mentioned Gentleman, that if Rooks infeft your Corn, 

 they will be more terrified by taking a Rook and plucking it limb from limb in their 

 fight, and then cafting the feveral limbs about your field, than if you hang up half a 

 dozen dead Rooks in it. 



§. IV. 



The Roy ft 'on Crow. Cornix einerea frugilega. 



its weight / "TT s Hat we defcribed weighed about twenty two ounces. Its meafures were from 

 and meafures. J[ tne point of the Bm tQ the end of the TaJ1 twenty tWQ inches . tQ the Angles 



of the mouth two inches and an half: Between the Wings extended, three feet and 

 three inches. 

 its Bill, The Bill long, ftrong, fmooth, black, but having thetipwhitifh 3 the upper Chap 



Noftnls, fome what longer than the lower,and a little bowed or crooked. The Nofthrils round, 

 Tongue, covered with briftly hairs. The Tongue broad, black, a little cloven, and rough on 

 Eyes. the fides. The hides of the Eyes of a cinereous Hazel colour. 

 The colour of The Head, Wings, and Throat, as far as the Breaft-bone black, with a certain 

 its. feathers, blueglofs: TheBreaft, Belly, Back, and Neck cinereous or grey, the Ihafts of the 

 feathers being blackifh. The feathers on the Throat where the black and cinereous 

 meet have their exteriour fides cinereous, and their interiour black. The Back is of 

 fomewhat a darker aih-colour than theBelly. 

 The quils or It hath in each Wing twenty matter-feathers, of which the firft is the ftiorteft , the 

 He^r 1 " 8 " third, fourth, and fifth equal. From the fixth the fhafts being produced above the 

 The Tail. feathers, end in fharp points. The Tail confifts of twelve feathers, the exteriour 

 whereof were gradually fomething fhorter than the interiour to the middlemoii, 

 which werefeven inches and an half long. 

 The Toes and The back-toe and Claw are large: The exteriour and interiour fore-toes equal, 

 claws. an d their Claws reach as far as the root of the Claw of the middle Toe. The outmoit 



and middle Toe are joyned at the bottom asin the Crow. 

 its Entrails, * The Liver is divided into two Lobes : The Stomach or Gizzard large, and in that 

 Food, we difl*e&ed was full of Wheat, Barley, and other Grain. It is infefted with Lice and 



Ticks. 

 place. Tn Summer time ( faith Aldrovandus ) it lives in high Mountains, where it alio 



builds : In the Winter ( compelled as is likely by the cold) it defcends into the Plains. 

 On the Heaths about Newmarket, Royfton, and elfevvhere in Cambridge-fim, it is fre- 

 quently {ken in Winter time. 



|.V. 



