CHOUGH. 37 



on barbed wire by an ignorant farmer. Abroad it breeds in 

 southern Europe and the Mediterranean bnsin, the Alps, and in 

 mountainous country across central Asia to China. 



The Chough has wonderfully buoyant and easy flight. It 

 floats above the beetling cliffs with wide-spread primaries ; the 

 tips of these bend upwards as it curves and turns, sweeping 

 round gracefully. With wings almost closed it shoots towards 

 the boiling surf at the foot of the crags, then checking itself, 

 sweeps into some wave-washed cave. Saunders describes its 

 movement on the ground as " a short and ver}^ quick run," but 

 it will walk as sedately as a Rook. Its loud, clear notes are 

 variously written, but to my ears " kee-aw " fits its ringing call, 

 clearer and louder than the note of the Daw; " tchuff," from 

 which it gets its name, is another common cry. A very tame 

 bird in Cornwall, gifted with the corvine imitative faculty, 

 could, without losing its characteristic tones, distinctly articu- 

 late the name of its mistress, " Emm-ah." Its food consists of 

 insects, molluscs and other invertebrates, and, occasionally, a 

 little corn. 



Some crack or fissure in the roof or sides of a tidal cave is a 

 usual site for the nest in the Chough's breeding haunts, and 

 similar hollows in steep crag and cliff faces are utilised. The 

 nest is, as a rule, bulky, composed of roots and stems of heather, 

 furze or other plants, and is lined with wool or hair. One 

 visited by Mr. F. S. Graves was in a fissure in a Manx cliff, and 

 consisted only of a lining ; at this nest the hen, drooping her 

 wings like a young bird, was fed by her mate. The eggs, laid 

 late in April or May, and three to six in number, are spotted 

 and speckled, not always densely, with various shades of brown 

 and grey on a creamy or slightly tinted ground (Plate 15). 



The plumage of both sexes is glossy blue-black, with green 

 sheen on the wings ; the bill and legs are coral red. In the 

 young dull orange takes the place of red until the first autumn. 

 The irides are brown. 



