CROWS AND ROOKS. 
237 
If undisturbed, they will remain a considerable time 
in the same place, uttering the same twittering note 
upon tbe ground, as wben perched on trees or reeds. 
This habit is usually observable in pastures,* — some- 
times, though rarely, in stubble-fields, but never 
upon fallow or new-ploughed land. 
We have pointed out some of the broad marks of 
distinction between the Crow and the Hook, as far 
as relates to their food and habits ; a slight reference 
to the personal difference between them will be 
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 Hook, whose beak, when of full- 
growth, is easily distinguished by the naked and 
scurfy white skin at its base, and on the chin, — pro- 
duced, as some naturalists assert, by the bristles 
being rubbed off, owing to its constantly thrusting 
its bill deep into the soil, in search of worms and 
insects. We feel, however, much inclined to doubt 
this, and would rather attribute this nakedness of 
the base of the bill, to an original and natural pecu- 
liarity. 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, but aetualty 
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 bare like those of other 
Hooks. On the other hand, it has been urged, that 
if these bristles were worn down by being thrust 
into the ground, they would be renewed like other 
