rook-haunted as applied to an interior room

Question

In the book I’m reading the author writes:

The Russian clergy had little in common with the Anglican curates and bishops in whose paneled libraries and rook-haunted chambers James passed some of his winter evenings.

So, rook-haunted. Googling shows that it’s not a rare word combination. But in most cases it seems to be understood quite literally – “rook-haunted groves” or “rook-haunted towers,” which can be imagined as groves or walls, well, “frequented” by the birds.

But I suspect the rook is not the only bird species that can be met in any environment. And you’re unlikely to meet any bird at all in a chamber where you pass evenings.

My question has thus two points:

1. What does “rook-haunted” mean as applied to an interior room?

2. Since it’s apparently a metaphor, where does it come from? Some classic work everyone knows? Some folk text? Something else?

Answer 1

I needed more context of the story and found it here.

1. I think the author (George Steiner), wants you to imagine an old, high vaulted room where rooks may have nested long ago.

2. I know not, of any metaphor where "rook-haunted" comes from... although when googled, it shows images of old manor houses with crows (or rooks) in the foreground.

It looks like a really good book!