52 



FOREHEAD OF THE ROOK. 



bill deep into the ground. Look at this bird in the 

 pasture, through a good glass (this puts me in 

 mind of the Professor's suggestion of a thermometer 

 and a stop-watch), and you will see that he merely 

 pulls up the tuft of grass with the point of his 

 bill. When on arable land, he will be observed 

 to thrust his bill comparatively deeper into the 

 mould, to get at the corn, which having just put up 

 its narrow greenish white leaf, the searcher is di- 

 rected by it to the sprouted grain. But he cannot 

 be at this work above a fortnight : the progress of 

 vegetation then interferes to stop the petty plun- 

 derer. 



The quae of South America, a bird of the order 

 of Pie, has a still greater portion of the forehead 

 bare ; and it must have put on this uncouth and 

 naked appearance in early youth, for, on inspecting 

 the head, you will see that feathers had once been 

 there. 



I could never, by any chance, find this bird in 

 the cultivated parts of the country. It inhabits the 

 thick and gloomy forests, and feeds chiefly upon the 

 fruits and seeds which grow upon the stately trees 

 in those never-ending solitudes. In fine, I consider 

 the accepted notion, that the rook loses the feathers 

 of its forehead, and those at the base of each man- 

 dible, together with the bristles, by the act of 

 thrusting its bill into the ground, as a pretty little 

 bit of specious theory, fit for the closet ; but which, 

 in the field, ''shows much amiss/' 



For my owU part I cannot account for the nudity 



