Only such items are included under “ Hoots ” as are bene- 
ficial or of value to the farmer, such as potatoes, mangolds, 
turnips, &c. When the bird was evidently not doing any damage 
to crops by feeding upon potatoes, &c. ; the occurrence of such is 
included in the space tor “ Miscellaneous Vegetable Matter.” 
Such instances happen when the rook was feeding on a piece of 
land recently under potatoes or on pieces of potato thrown away. 
Unrecognisable roots and seeds or portions of the same have 
been included in the “ Miscellaneous Vegetable Matter,” as 
have also certain seeds Avhich are of no very direct economic 
importance, such as acorns or seeds of ash, &c. 
In “ Miscellaneous Animal Matter ” are included such items 
as occur in kitchen refuse, ^.e., meat, bone, eg‘g-shell, &c., when 
the bird was evidently feeding on food thrown away. 
Grass roots have been included in “ Weed, Seeds, and Hoots.” 
It will be observed from Table No. II. that the percentage of 
animal food taken from April to September is large and also 
that this is made up mainly of injurious insects ; so that for six 
months rooks appear to take a large quantity of injurious insects 
as food. On the other hand we have to record a large quantity of 
grain in the rook’s diet; tor nine months of the year (from »Sep- 
tember to May inclusive) the percentage of grain food is A^ery 
high and in September and October reaches 100 per cent. ; it 
only falls to a low level in June, July, and August. 
It would, however, be most unwise to rely entirely upon statis- 
tics obtained from stomach dissections and to say that because 
the figures show large percentage of grain that the rook is doing 
a great amount of damage to the crops. It has been frequently 
observed that rooks, Avhen feeding upon grain in September and 
October, are not doing any damage to the crops but are merely 
taking the grain which has been dropped during harvesting 
operations. By reference to Table No. I. it will be seen that the 
supplies of birds for September and October were, with one 
exception, all obtained from localities in the Southern and Mid- 
land Counties of England where haiwesting has generally been 
completed by the middle of September, hence it In* no means 
follows that because grain was taken in 100 per cent, of the birds 
examined (Table No. II.) that the rook was doing damage to the 
extent indicated. Again, the number of specimens received for 
September and October was very small, from wliich it is impos- 
sil)le to obtain reliable data. As i)reviously indicated an even 
number of birds should be received each month from the same 
and as many localities as possible, and after obtaining careful 
observational evidence and also taking into consideration the 
available food and the relative abundance of the rooks we should 
be better able to judge the true position the rook holds vith 
regard to agriculture. 
