*244 
ROOK. 
Glasgow can, at this day, exhibit their rookeries 
within their well-peopled bounds. 
We are not aware that the geographical range 
of this bird has been attended to with any more 
precision than the last. In the British islands it 
is generally distributed, preferring, however, the 
cultivated districts, decreasing towards the north, 
and being always least abundant in the alpine or 
wooded mountainous regions. Out of Britain it 
has been mentioned to be frequent in temperate 
European regions, and to extend to Asia, and 
according to the list in M. Temminck’s Supple- 
ment, is enumerated as a bird of Japan. 
The complete plumage of the Rook is, like that 
of the preceding, clean, glossy, and beautiful, a 
clear black, with blue and violet reflections ; the 
feathers of the head and neck, with their webs, 
decomposed, and the texture loose and silky. 
The greatest difference in form exists in the bill, 
which is more tapering and slender towards the 
point, formed for digging, rather than a wedge or 
lacerating instrument. The nostrils are not covered 
by the incumbent narrow feathers, and the base 
of the bill and chin are bare, covered only by a 
naked scaly skin. In the young birds, previous 
to the first moult, the plumage on these parts is 
similar to the other Crows, and the denudation 
seems to be a very necessary provision when they 
have to provide for themselves, occurring natu- 
rally and not by wearing, and evidently intended 
to prevent annoyance from wet soil, & c. adhering 
to the feathers ; in the nestling state, and during 
