CORVID. 991 
towers: itis made of sticks, and lined with wool and 
hair. 
The Chough is certainly a much handsomer bird 
than the Jackdaw, from which it may immediately 
be distinguished by its beak and legs. The beak is 
sealing-wax red; the irides are of two colours, the 
inner ring being red and the outer blue; the eyelids 
are red; the whole of the plumage is a beautiful 
glossy black, shot with purple; the legs and toes 
sealing-wax red; claws black. The young birds of 
the year are not quite so glossy in their plumage, 
neither are the beak and legs quite so bright. 
The eggs of the Chough are not unlike some 
specimens of those of the Jackdaw; they are of a 
yellowish white ground, fading in cabinet specimens 
to white, spotted with dusky ash-grey and light 
brown. 
Raven, Corvus corax. The Raven is resident 
with us all the year, but, owing to the ravages of 
gamekeepers and others, it is now growing very 
scarce; a few, however, may still be seen on the 
Quantock and Brendon Hills, and I believe there 
are a few pairs on the Mendips: there is also, in the 
‘Zoologist’ for 1866, a notice of the death of a very 
patriarchal Raven, one of a pair that lived and bred 
for many years on Brean Down, near Weston-super- 
Mare: the Rev. Murray A. Mathew, who noticed 
the death of this bird, said it was the largest and 
probably the oldest Raven he had ever seen. 
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