CHOUGH. 577 
time, and to have now completely deserted its inland haunts, being only 
found on the ocean cliffs. It formerly haunted Burrow Head, the Mull of 
Galloway, Troup Head, and St. Abb’s Head in considerable numbers ; but 
now in some localities only a few pairs remain, whilst in others the bird 
has vanished altogether. The great stronghold of the Chough is in the 
island of Islay. On the west coast of Skye (which locality now appears 
to be its northern limit in our islands), in Wigtownshire, and Kireud- 
brightshire a few pairs are still known to breed. Although found in the 
Long Island in Macgillivray’s day, it is now absent, as also from Coll, 
Rum, and Canna and other stations on the Western Islands. In Ireland 
its numbers have also decreased. It appears to have deserted all its 
inland haunts, and only a few chosen places on the coast and the adjacent 
islands are now frequented by it; but it is still common on the coasts of 
county Kerry, and I specially remember its abundance on the magnificent 
cliffs at Sybil Head, west of Dingle. 
The Chough is essentially a bird of the rocks, and is in no part of its 
range a migratory species. In the British Islands it finds suitable haunts 
on the coast; but on the continent it breeds almost exclusively on the 
mountains. It is found in the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Apennines, and 
the mountains of Sicily and Sardinia, the Carpathians, the Parnassus, the 
Caucasus, and the Urals, and on many of the intervening lesser ranges of 
hills. In the Atlas and the Aurés, Abyssinia, the rocky mountains of 
Arabia Petrzea, and the hills of Persia, the mountain districts of Southern 
Siberia, Turkestan, the Himalayas, Mongolia, Tibet, and North-east China 
the Chough also breeds. It appears to be a maritime bird only on the 
Atlantic coast. South of the British Islands Saunders records it from 
Belle Isle, on the coast of Brittany. It also breeds in Palma, one of the 
. 
f 
| 
F 
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'F Canaries (exceeding 7000 feet above the level of the sea) ; but here it is 
said to nest in the clefts of the sides of the crater and not on the coast. 
It is a mistake to suppose that Belle Isle is the only maritime resort of the 
. Chough outside of the British Islands. It is certainly a maritime bird in 
South-west Portugal. Dresser mistranslates the account of this colony 
given by Dr. E. Rey (Journ. f. Orn. 1872, p. 145)*. Accidental wanderers 
are occasionally caught in other parts of Europe. The Chough is a 
southern bird; and there is no evidence whatever of its being found north 
of lat. 58° except in Scotland. The stories of its having been seen in 
the Archangel government are no doubt myths. | Sabanaefl distinctly 
states that in the Ural Mountains the northern limit of its range 1s 
«“ At the end of the valley I found the nests, but 
* Dresser says:—Dr. Rey writes : 
/ resser Says: y ’ wea ha TE at aaa P 
in a place where I could not possibly reach them.” The correct translati : ie 
entirely different meaning, and is: —“ Outside the valley I found the nest-colony, bu 
: a . of 9? 
unfortunately in an absolutely inaccessible part of the coast. af 
VOL. I. 
