CORNISH CHOUGHS 277 



have risen from the cornfield that skirted the slope 

 and was bounded by a stone wall. They flew on and 

 disappeared over the ridge and Mr. S. said they would 

 be seen to settle on the rocks. When we got to the 

 top of this ridge we found ourselves almost at the end 

 of the slope, for the other side of the next " gug " was 

 precipitous almost to the top. 



I may say that the slope is so steep that though it 

 abounds in rabbits Mr. S. says it is difficult to get 

 them, for when shot they roll down into the sea ; in 

 places it must be 200 yards wide at least. 



Well, at first we could see no Choughs, but after a 

 while we made out first 2, and then the third, sitting 

 on the side of the cliff, and then getting as near as we 

 could we lay down and watched them with our glasses. 

 Two of them, a pair I should think, sat quite close 

 together and were preening their feathers. It was a 

 bright cloudless day and as they sat in full sunlight we 

 had a capital view of them with the beautiful purple 

 gloss (which was quite plain) on their feathers, and 

 their red bills and legs, the last, however, not so bright 

 as I should have expected. These birds were not con- 

 tent with arranging their own feathers but they fre- 

 quently trimmed one another, especially their heads, 

 and one could see one bird shut its eye while the other 

 was carefully picking round it. These two birds seemed 

 to take no notice of us, we were perhaps just out of 

 ordinary gun-shot, but the third was more fidgetty and 

 kept jumping from one rock to another and every now 

 and then calling out. I could have stayed watching 

 them much longer, but we had to be going on ; so after 

 half an hour, or perhaps not so long, we proceeded, and 

 then after a short flight or two they rose up and came 

 back over our heads within easy shot. On the wing 

 they look much more like Rooks, indeed one might 

 have some trouble to distinguish them, but their wings 

 seem larger in proportion to their bodies, just as Stock- 

 Doves' are larger than Ring-Doves'. 



These birds we saw no more. By and by we got to 



