where they are still fed for a time, but soon learn to select
and obtain sufficient for their own subsistence. The nest
trees are in some cases deserted from this time, and all the
inhabitants of the rookery roost together in some neighbouring
wood, from whence at an early hour they repair in flocks
to their feeding-ground, returning together with slow and
measured flight in the evening. Whenever the main body
are feeding, or otherwise engaged on the ground, two or
three individuals are generally seen posted, like sentiriels, in
trees close-fry, whose note of caution or alarm appears to be
perfectly understood by the rest, and surprise or danger
avoided apparently by a concerted understanding among
them-
I have been, informed by good observers, that besides the
general hatch which takes place in April, a-few young broods
are produced late in the autumn, and Charles AnderSon, Esq.
some time since wrote me word,- that in 1817 a pair of ltooks
had a nest with eggs in a tall elm at Lea, near Gainsborough,
so late as the month of November. _E. II. Rodd, Esq. of
Penzance, has also“ sent me word that at his'father’s residence
in Cornwall, Rooks built their nests, and ^hatched young
birds, in a warm sheltered valley near the house, in'November
1886.
Rooks, like some others of the Crow tribe, have been occasionally
tamed, and learnt to perform many amusing .tricks,
becoming greatly attached to those who fed and protected
them. Mr. Hewitson has heard the Rook imitate the note
of the Jackdaw. Mr. Macgillivray mentions having repeatedly
heard one “ that imitated so remarkably well the barking
of several dogs in the village that, had it been, placed* out of
view, it would have been impossible to have -discovered-the
d e c e p tio n a n d adds besides, that when making a visit of
observation to a rookery,. lie was surprised to hear- several
Rooks uttering a variety of soft, clear, modulated notes, very
unlike their usual cry. “ In the intervals,” it is observed, “ I
could distinguish the faint shrill voice of the newly hatched
piung, .which, their m o th e rs ,^ ^ lt, persuaded, were fondling
and coaxing in this manner. Indeed the sounds were plainly
expressive of affifejapn* and a ■desire to please,” . The numerous
muscles,alreadyidtescrifred.-as belonging-to all the species
of-the Crow tribe, ■ sufficiently-, account for the powers here
manifested,by the Rook,
This-bird is, .probably .nowhere,, more common, than in
Ehgland and. Ireland; ,bijt'.decreases in numbers ,as you pro-
ce^morthward in Scotland^ andtpsj not .-found, in O r k n e y n r
Shetland. Aduifeare observed in; Denmark, j-tihe; southern
part öf giwédén, Russia, ,and northern Asia.. I t is said to be
somewhat.-migratory' over, part of the - European' continent,
and --is not;-fonaidnn Guernsey* or Jersey,* though1 observed
.occasionally to fly,across the Channel from this country. I t
has-been found ihvtffieu range between the. piackj and the Caspian
seas; -vahd:; M.^Temminck saysi. it., is„,an inhabitant of
Japan. -
, i^Tlhe antejioE;part of the beak shining black ; the basal part
of both--mandibles, as well as the; skin^uhddr the tongue and
on^lpejtbroat, naked.of feathers,iseabrous,- and warty, and this
jmo^ «ib\n©ufejé^tètfrah'di&tffi.j@tidn between the Rook
and Carrion Crow ; the hides: dark brown ;. the whole of the
plumage:/black', rglossfejcL' with ipurpl^j particularly|bvjer the
®ê]sik$and back ; under surface -;of wing and tail-feathers greyish
black., ;\L.egs; toes, and, claws, shininghlack. g
Thé wh^plength.' ofrthe adult male described was nineteen
inches and a-.half; ,fr°m ihe carpal joint of the wing to the
.-end of the longest quill-feather, twelve .inches and one quarte
r ; .the ; first feather, three, dnehes-shorter than the second ;
th^-mecondu one inch shorter than ■ th e . fourth, which is the
longest in the wing;, the thirdi’js^as .much shorter than the
fourth as it is atOUger than the fifths I
h 2