ROOKS. 
195 
time in tlie same place, uttering the same twittering note 
upon the ground, as when perched on trees or reeds. This 
habit is usually observable in pastures ; sometimes, though 
rarely, in stubble-fields ; hut never upon fallow or new- 
ploughed land. 
We have pointed out some of the broad marks of distinc- 
tion between the Crow and the Rook, as far as relates to their 
food and habits : a slight reference to the personal difference 
between them will he sufficient. The beak of the Crow is 
more bent and rather stronger, and is never without the 
bristly feathers that cover the base and the nostrils, as is 
the case with the Rook, whose beak, when of full growth, 
is easily distinguished by the naked and scurf}'' white skin at 
its base and on the skin, produced, as some naturalists assert, 
by the bristles being rubbed off, owing to its constantly 
thrusting its hill deep into the soil, in search of worms and 
insects. We feel, however, much inclined to doubt this, and 
would rather attribute this nakedness in the base of the hill 
to an original and natural peculiarity. It has been well 
argued, in favour of the former opinion, that a specimen 
was killed whose beak was much longer than usual, and the 
extremities of which were not only much curved, hut actually 
crossed, like a Crossbill’s, and that the base of the beak of 
this bird, from an impossibility of its being thrust into the 
ground, was clothed with a full plumage of bristles, and not 
hare like those of other Rooks. On the other hand, it has 
been urged, that if these bristles were worn down by being 
thrust into the ground, they would he renewed, like other 
feathers, at the regular moulting-time ; and, further, as all 
new feathers are full of blood at the roots, any application 
tending to grind them down would he so painful to the 
Rook, that it would he very unwilling, if indeed able, to 
thrust its beak into the ground ; and again, — which we con- 
sider as a still stronger argument, — it may he asked, if the 
Rook’s bristles are destroyed by this process, how comes it 
that the Jackdaw, Jay, and Magpie, and some other birds, 
retain them, though as constantly thrusting their beaks into 
the ground, in search of worms, as the Rooks ? 
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