S47 



ROOK. 



Corvus frugilegus. C. sesquipcdalis ater caruleo nit ens , rostro 

 basi albicante-denudato, cauda subrotundata rectricibiis rotuii' 

 datis. 



Black Crow about eighteen inches in length, glossed with 

 bluej the bill bare and whitish at the base; tail roundish 

 with rounded feathers. 



Corvus frugilegus. C. ater y f route ciner ascent e, cauda suhro^ 

 tundata, Lin. Si/st. Nat, 



Le Freux, ou la Frayonne. BuJ^. ois. 



The Rook. Will, orn, Pemi. Lath, ^c. 



This species is rather larger than the Crow, but 

 of similar colour, and bears so great a general re- 

 semblance to that bird as to be easily mistaken 

 for it. It differs however in having a somewhat 

 slenderer bill, the base of which, in the full-grown 

 bird, is commonly of a whitish cast, and nearly 

 bare of plumes: this however, being rather owing 

 to the abrasion of that part during the exertions 

 of striking it into the ground in quest of food, 

 rather than to any original difference, wojikl not 

 alone constitute a characteristic mark: a more 

 certain difference is the shape of the tail-feathers, 

 which in the Crow are somewhat sharp-pointed at 

 the tips, but in the Rook are broad and rounded. 

 In its manners the Rook differs considerably from 

 the Crow, being of a gregarious nature, building 

 in great numbers on the same tree, and forming a 

 vast and noisy assembly throughout a great extent 

 of wood; feeding prin?cipally on grain of various 

 kinds, and on insects, particularly on the larvae of 



