CHAPTER LXYI. 



The Rook. 



Corvus frugilegus, Lin. ; Le Freux ou la Frayonne, Buf. 



Desceiption and Character. — The Eook, likewise known as 

 the Bare-faced Crow, and also as the White-faced Crow, is 

 almost as familiar to the generality of people as the House 

 Sparrow, and, like that bird, appears to have a desire to form 

 associations with mankind. Hence, in villages, towns, and even 

 populous cities, these birds not unfrequently take up their 

 abode in public parks or in private pleasure grounds. The 

 Eook, although a stupid, conventional looking bird, is really very 

 intelligent, and when domesticated is almost as amusing as a 

 Jackdaw. In the wild state, these birds are extremely cautious, 

 and, when a number of them alight to feed, two or three are 

 invariably told off as watchmen, to keep a vigilant outlook from 

 some adjacent tree. When anyone approaches the spot closely, 

 the watchers fly away, uttering their familiar *' Khra, khra," 

 and those that are feeding, if they deem it necessary, also take 

 to flight, mingling in chorus the same familiar and unmusical 

 call note. 



The length of a full-grown Eook is about 17in., more or less, 

 the tail measuring 7in. The beak is stout and powerful, but 

 thin towards the tip ; it is bare of feathers from the nostrils to 

 the eyes, and, in a matured specimen, around the base of the 

 bill, differing in this respect from the Crow, which is well- 

 feathered in these parts, and has stout hairs, or bristles, like a 

 Eaven. The whole plumage of the Eook is black ; in young, 

 unmoulted birds, the colour is dingy and indefinite, but in 



