CHOUGH 93 



extraordinary assemblage of these birds in the 

 breeding - time near Smyrna {Naumannia, 1856, 

 p. 407, and Zool, 1857, p. 5668). See also Signor 

 de Betta's account, translated from the Italian 

 (ZooL, 1878, p. 16), of a similar but still larger con- 

 gregation at Villafranca in the province of Verona. 



Fam. COKVID^. 



CHOUGH. Pyrrhocorax graculus (Linnaeus). Length, 

 15 in. ; bill, 2 in. ; wing, 11 in. ; tarsus, 2-25 in. 



Resident in sea- cliffs in Ireland, the west of 

 Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, North Devon, and Dor- 

 setshire, where I got the eggs from two nests in 

 May 1865. Formerly also in Sussex and the Isle 

 of Wight. Some remarks on the last haunt of this 

 bird in the Land's End district will be found in the 

 Introduction to Rodd's " Birds of Cornwall." 



The Chough is of sedentary habits, and rarely 

 wanders far inland. One was shot at Lindridge, 

 Worcestershire, while perched on the summit of a 

 building, where it was probably resting after a long 

 flight (Hastings, "Nat. Hist. Worcester," p. 66). In 

 August 1887, while watching the sheep-dog trials 

 at Llanberis, North Wales, I heard the note of the 

 Chough, and looking up saw four of these birds 

 passing overhead towards Snowdon. 



Choughs are readily tamed, and a pair in the 

 possession of Lady Dorothy Nevill, at Dangstein, 

 Sussex, built a nest and laid eggs, but did not 



