The Rook. BIRDS. The Jackdaw. 347 
is well known in the extreme northern parts of Scot- 
land, and in the Orkney and Shetland Islands, where 
it breeds, hut is rarely seen in England’except during 
winter. It is abundant about Royston from October 
to March, and hence is frequently called tlie Royston 
Crow. The adult male is about twenty inches in 
length, the female rather less. The bill and feet are 
shining black ; the whole of the head, the front of the 
neck, tlie wings and tail, are blue-black ; and the re- 
mainder of the plumage gray, tinged witli brown in the 
female. The general habits of this bird resemble 
those of the Carrion Crow, and like that species and 
the Raven it is charged with destroying young lambs 
and poultry. When these birds take up their abode 
on the coast, they feed upon marine animals, including 
shell-fish, such as cockles and mussels, and in order to 
obtain the latter, they will fly up with them into the 
air and drop them upon a rock. The nest of this 
species is built either in a tree or upon a ledge of rock ; 
it is formed of sticks and straws, and lined with wool 
and hair, and serves tor several successive seasons. 
One remarkable circumstance in the history of this 
bird is that it has been known repeatedly to pair and 
breed with the Carrion Crow, the Hooded Crow being 
usually the female. 
THE ROOK {Cornis fruf/ilrfjiis) another well-known 
British species, is distinguished from the preceding mem- 
bers of its genus by its gregarious and sociable habits, 
which indicate, as Pennant says, that it is the Corvus 
of Virgil, and it is known as the Crow in many parts 
of this country. Rooks live constantly in flocks at all 
Fig. 114 
Head of the Rook (Corvus frugilegiis). 
seasons of the year, and, as jTlr. Yarrell remarks, further 
evince “ the sociability of their dispositions, by appear- 
ing to prefer situations in the immediate vicinity of the 
abodes of man. There are not wanting instances,” he 
adds, “ where long-established rookeries near a mansion 
have been deserted by these birds, when it has happened 
that the house has been pulled down, or even aban- 
doned as a habitation.” In fact, so constantly is the 
Rook a companion of man, that we can hardly see 
these birds busy about their nests, or returning to their 
trees to roost in the evening, or hear their not over- 
melodious voices, without associating these sights and 
sounds with a human dwelling-place. They are not 
disturbed even by the bustle of great cities, and one or 
two pairs have frequently built their nests in a single 
elm tree at the corner of Wood Street and Cheapside, 
notwithstanding the constant roar of the traffic in the 
latter great thoroughfare. They have been known to 
exhibit great sagacity in selecting the trees on which 
to build their nests, avoiding those which were so 
decayed as to be in danger of coming down ; and an 
instance is recorded of their forsaking those trees from 
which a portion of bark had been removed as an indi- 
cation that they were to be felled. The nests, of 
which seven or eight are often seen on the same tree, 
are composed of twigs, and lined with grass and roots, 
and during the process of building, constant squabbles 
arise among the architeets, caused by their endeavouring 
to plunder each other’s materials at every opportuniH. 
The same nest serves for several years. 
The food of the Rooks consists principally of worms, 
snails, slugs, and the grubs of insects, in search of 
which they frequent meadows, pastures, and ploughed 
fields. They have frequently been regarded as enemies 
by the farmer, but in this he is eertainly in error ; they 
may, indeed, occasionally consume some small portion 
of his produce, but the quantity of noxious insects 
destroyed by them is so enormous, that the benefits 
conferred by them upon the husbandman far exceed 
any damage they may do him. One of the commonest 
charges against the Rooks is, that they injure the 
pastures, by plucking up the grass and other meadow 
plants, apparently for the sake of misehief; but the fact 
is, that on investigation the plants pulled up are found 
to have been previously destroyed by the grubs of 
insects devouring their roots, and it is in order to obtain 
these that the Rooks render themselves liable to a 
charge of doing mischief which was in reality ready 
done to their beaks. In searching after the earth- 
loving insects which constitute their principal food, the 
Rooks dig into the ground with 'their beaks, and in 
eonsequence of this the feathers at the base of the bill 
and on the throat, which are present in young birds, 
become gradually rubbed otf and destroyed, leaving a 
rough naked skin on these parts. The bill is sometimes 
liable to curious malformations, specimens having been 
shot with the mandibles crossed, or with one mandible 
produced to a great length beyond the other, rendering 
it difficult to understand how the birds could continne 
to pick up their living. In captivity the Rook is said 
to exhibit the same amusing qualities as his congeners, 
except that his powers of imitation seem to be more 
limited. 
THE JACKDAW {Corvus monedula), a smaller species 
than any of the preceding, resembles the Rook in living 
together sociably in considerable flocks throughout the 
j'ear. It is a common inhabitant of Britain, and also 
of the continent of Europe, extending southward to the 
northern shores of Africa, and eastward at least as far 
as Lake Baikal in Central Asia. The Jackdaw is a 
bold and familiar bird, generally inhabiting cultivated 
and well-peopled districts, and frequenting especially 
the towers and belfries of churches and similar elevated 
buildings, amongst the nooks and crannies of which it 
builds its nest and brings up its young. In more rural 
districts and on the coast the Jackdaw builds in the 
