Roller, s. Anything turning on its own axis, as a heavy stone to level walks; bandage; in saddling, the broad fillet, with two or more straps and buckles to secure the saddle or sheet.
Rollypooly, s. A corruption of roll ball into the pool, a sort of game, in which when a ball rolls into a certain place it wins.
Rood, s. The fourth part of an acre in square measure; a pole, a measure of sixteen feet and a half in long measure.
Rook, s. A bird resembling a crow; it feeds not on carrion but grain; a piece at chess.
This bird is about the size of the carrion crow, and, except its more glossy plumage, very much resembles it. The base of the bill and nostrils, as far as the eyes, is covered with a white scabrous skin, in which it differs from all the rest, occasioned, it is said, by thrusting its bill into the earth in search of worms; but as the same appearance has been observed in such as have been brought up tame, and unaccustomed to that mode of subsistence, we are inclined to consider it as an original peculiarity. We have already had occasion to observe, that they are useful in preventing a too great increase of that destructive insect the chafer, or dor-beetle, and thereby make large recompense for the depredations they may occasionally commit on the corn-fields. Rooks are gregarious, and fly in immense flocks, at morning and evening, to and from their roosting places, in quest of food. During the breeding time they live together in large societies, and build their nests on trees close to each other, frequently in the midst of large and populous towns. These rookeries, however, are often the scenes of bitter contests; the new-comers are frequently driven away by the old inhabitants, their half-built nests torn in pieces, and the unfortunate couple forced to begin their work anew, in some more undisturbed situation. Of this we had a remarkable instance in Newcastle: in the year 1783, a pair of rooks, after an unsuccessful attempt to establish themselves in a rookery at no great distance from the Exchange, were compelled to abandon the attempt. They took refuge on the spire of that building, and although constantly interrupted by other rooks, built their nest on the top of the vane, and brought forth their young, undisturbed by the noise of the populace below them; the nest and its inhabitants turning about with every change of the wind. They returned and built their nest every year on the same place, till 1793, soon after which the spire was taken down.
The minute description of rooks is needless; the rooks may always be known from the carrion crow, by their being in flocks, whereas the crows go only in pairs; and also by the white colour of the bill, and from their being bare of feathers upon that part in which the crow is well clothed.
The rook is a gregarious bird, being sometimes seen in numbers so as almost to darken the air in their flight, which they regularly perform morning and evening, except in the breeding time, when the daily attendance of both male and female is required for incubation, or feeding the young; and it is observed they do both alternately. They begin to build in March; one bringing materials, while the other watches the nest, lest it should be plundered by its brethren: they lay five or six eggs, of a pale green colour, marked with small brownish spots. After the breeding season, rooks forsake their nest-trees, going to roost elsewhere; but return to them in August, and again in October, when they repair their nests. The young birds are very good when skinned, steeped in milk, and afterwards put into a pie. Hawker recommends cold water instead of milk.
There is one trait in the character of the rook which is, I believe, peculiar to that bird, and which does him no little credit; it is the distress which they exhibit when one of them has been killed or wounded by a gun, while they have been feeding in a field or flying over it. Instead of being scared away by the report of the gun, leaving their wounded or dead companion to his fate, they show the greatest anxiety and sympathy for him, uttering cries of distress, and plainly proving that they wish to render him assistance, by hovering over him, or sometimes making a dart from the air close up to him, apparently to try and find out the reason why he did not follow them.