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ROOK. 
Rook, Corvus frugilegus. — Corvus frugile- 
gus, Linn. &;c — Common Rook of British authors. 
■— We have placed the Common Rook last among 
the British species of Crows, because it varies 
somewhat in its gregarious habits, and by the 
bareness of the base of its bill, which by some 
ornithologists have been thought to be characters 
of sufficient importance to entitle it to a place 
generically separate. In every respect, however, 
it is essentially a Crow , and any little differences 
of either structure or habits will only serve to 
connect its own group with some of those nearly 
allied to it. 
The Common Rook is perhaps more connected 
with the park scenery of Britain than any other 
wild bird. The huge piles of its nest which dot 
the avenued approaches to the residences built in 
the end of the sixteenth and in the seventeenth 
centuries, are seen from a distance, and have a 
marked appearance on the character of the place, 
while the bustle and the noise of the rookery on 
a near approach is always interesting, and is 
protected by the owners as a fitting accessory to 
their chase or domain. In the manners of the 
group generally, there is a familiarity which leads 
many of its members to court the vicinity of 
cultivation and of habitations. Few rookeries 
exist at present far from some mansion, though 
this may be accounted for by the prevalence of 
the largest and finest timber occurring near the 
residence. At the same time, we are not aware 
