252 



PASSERES. 



CORVIDiE. 



CORVIDjE. 



mti -^CVc^ 



Pyrrhocorax graculus (Linnaeus*). 

 THE CHOUGH. 

 Fregilus graculus. 



Pyrrhocorax, Tunstall\. — Beak hard, slender, compressed, arched, and 

 pointed. Nostrils basal, hidden by small, closely-set feathers. Wings long and 

 graduated ; first primary much shorter than the second, and about half as long 

 as the third, the fourth the longest. Tail nearly even. Feet strong, tarsus 

 longer than the middle toe, to which the outer toe is united as far as its first 

 joint ; claws strong and much curved. 



The Chough in England is not a common bird, and is 

 nowadays almost exclusively confined to the neighbourhood 

 of the bolder parts of the sea-coast of the southern and 

 western counties, where it inhabits the higher cliffs, though 

 it apparently frequented a good many inland localities in 

 former times. Merrett in 1G67 speaks of it as found "in 



* Corvus graculus, Linnaeus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 158 (1706). 

 f Orn. Brit. p. 2(1771). 



