birds. At the same time it must be stated that Rooks with
feathered faces are not unfrequently found living at large;
but all such are most likely birds of the year, which from
some constitutional cause have not yet divested themselves
of this mark of nonage. Though one of the mandibles is
sometimes prolonged to nearly twice its normal length, or
both are so curved as to render the beak quite useless as a
digging implement, few people have seen a Rook shewing
overgrowth that had not a bare face ; but, say the advocates
of the abrasion-theory, it is possible that the nudity had been
produced before the alteration of form had taken place, and
that the bulbs whence the feathers arise, having been once
injured, might afterwards remain unproductive.
Japan, China and possibly Eastern Siberia are inhabited
by a Rook, Corvus pastinator, differing from our own in
having the throat always feathered and a few other slight
characters.*
* Some ornithologists have broken up the genus Corvus still further than was
done when the Pies, Jays and a few other natural groups were removed from i t ;
but as regards its European members with no great success. Thus the Raven
being left as the type-species, the Crow, Rook and Daw have been placed in
genera respectively called Corone, Trypanocorax and Colrnus—all the invention
of Kaup, the first and last in 1829, and the second, of which Bonaparte had
prior notice (Consp. Av. i. p. 384), in a communication to the meeting of the
German Ornithologists’ Society at Gotha (Journ. ftir Orn. 1854, p. lv. note).
Linnaeus has been blamed by some writers for giving the present species a
trivial name so misleading as frugilegus. It may be remarked that herein he
only acted according to his well-known principles, preserving the name by which
it was almost universally known, and still surviving, according to some, in the
French Freux, though M. Littré derives this from the Teutonic Hruoch, the
source of our own Roolc.
PASSEREZ. CORVIDÆ.
C orvus m o n ed u la , Linnseus*.
THE DAW.
Corvus monedula.
D aws, in some of tbeir habits, much resemble Rooks, with
which they very commonly associate in considerable numbers
throughout the year, and whether seeking food, or
rearing their young, perfect harmony prevails between the
two species. But in other respects there is a good deal of
difference. Daws are not so entirely limited to wooded and
cultivated districts, constantly frequenting also high cliffs,
both on the sea-coast and inland where their larger congeners
are rarely or never seen, and are even bolder and more
domestic than Rooks, when taking up their abode near villages
and towns. A large number seek shelter in our
buildings, where, notwithstanding their pertness and certain
* Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 156 (1766).