Britain's birds and their nests (1910) (14568725529)

Magpie (Pica pica syn. P. rustica)
Identifier: britainsbirdsthe00thom (find matches)
Title: Britain's birds and their nests
Year: 1910 (1910s)
Authors: Thomson, Arthur Landsborough, Sir, 1890- Thomson, J. Arthur (John Arthur), 1861-1933 Rankin, George
Subjects: Birds -- Great Britain Birds -- Nests
Publisher: London : W. & R. Chambers
Contributing Library: American Museum of Natural History Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library



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other typical Crows. THE ROOK (Corvus frugilegus).Plate 75. Over the greater part of the British Isles the Rookis by far the most abundant and familiar kind of Crow,and it is to this species that the loosely used popularname * Crow is most frequently applied. Not only is itvery common, by no means avoiding the neighbourhood ofhuman habitations, but it is also conspicuous becauseof its very markedly gregarious habits, and the amountof noise which always exists to remind the landowner of the black republic in his elms. Being a strictly arboreal species, the Rook naturallybecomes less common in the extreme north of Scotland; butthere it has of late been extending its range. Through-out the rest of our area it is almost ubiquitous, but itis rather more abundant in the north of England thanin the south. Its British migrations correspond closelywith those already described for the Jackdaw. The nesting habits of a single pair of Rooks closelyresemble those of a pair of Carrion-Crows who have
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Plate 76. MAGPIE—Fica rustica. Length, iS in. ; wing, 7-75 in. (PasSERES : Corvidce.)2 E 240 BRITAINS BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 241 chosen a tree-site. The nest, rarely wool-lined, is ofthe same type. Non-arboreal sites are exceptional. Thethree to five eggs are very similar to those of the Carrion-Crow, but rather smaller. The young may always bedistinguished by the colour of the inside of the mouth—dark flesh-colour at first, becoming slaty, whereas it isalways pale flesh-colour in the Carrion-Crow. The full-grown birds of the two species differ in manyways. Most obvious is the bare white patch on theRooks cheeks. This, however, is feathered till after thesecond moult. The Rook is built on more graceful linesthan the Crow; the flight is lighter; the voice is muchless harsh. But the most distinctive feature of both the nestingand the general economy of the Rook is, of course,its gregariousness. Its social organisation has appaientlyreached a higher level than among any other species