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578 BRITISH BIRDS. 
Tagilsk, the chief locality where the celebrated iron-mines of Prince 
Demidoff are situated. 
The Chough of Eastern Asia and China (var. orientalis) has been sepa- 
rated on the ground of its having a shorter tarsus and foot. This seems, 
however, to be principally a question of sex, the female having a shorter 
tarsus than the male. Examples from the Himalayas were described as a 
distinct species by Gould (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1862, p. 125), under the 
name of Fregilus himalayanus. This local race is undoubtedly worthy of 
mention, although it can only be regarded as a subspecies, as inter- 
mediate forms are found. Specimens from Europe and China measure 
from 11% to 103 inch in length of wing; whilst those from India vary 
from 131 to lld inch. Birds from intermediate localities are intermediate, 
however, as a series from Asia Minor, Persia, and Turkestan vary from 
123 to 114 inch. 
The Chough, like the Rook and the Jackdaw, lives in colonies. Its 
haunts are the tall beetling cliffs, the rugged rocks which descend sheer down 
into a boiling sea and are quite inaccessible to all but the most intrepid 
cragsman or venturesome oologist eager to enrich his cabinet with 
“‘ British-taken” specimens of its eggs. A haunt of the Chough is usually 
also a sea-bird’s haunt. On the face of the stupendous cliffs the Puffin 
and the Guillemot sit quietly ; and lower down the noisy Kittiwakes ever 
and anon flutter into the air and join the black-coated Choughs, whose 
notes mingle with the cries of the sea-birds and the dull roar of the ever- 
restless waves below. 
Dixon met with the Chough in Algeria, and made the following notes 
of its habits there:—“ It was not until we reached the highest parts 
of the Djebel Aures that we met with the Chough. At Constantine the 
place seems admirably suited to its needs; but the Jackdaw is the only 
Corvine inhabitant of these magnificent rocks. When making the ascent 
of Djebel Mahmel, some twelve miles south-east of Lambessa, we observed 
quite a colony of the birds in a low ridge of rocks, on the side of one of 
the barren stony valleys near the snow-capped summit of this fine moun- 
tain. Fifty or more birds could be seen in the air together, beating slowly 
along the rugged face of the cliffs; and every now and then one or two 
would enter their nest-holes, or just as frequently a pair would fly 
hurriedly out of them. How the birds obtained a sustenance up in these 
sterile mountain solitudes might well give cause for wonder ; yet we could 
repeatedly see them upon the stony ground apparently in search of food. 
I sometimes noticed one of the birds as it flew along the cliffs drop 
suddenly down amongst the rocks; but, as they were exceedingly shy, I 
could never get an opportunity of finding out the cause of the bird’s visit 
to the earth: it may have been to capture a small insect or beetle or a 
locust. Upon another occasion we met with a smaller colony of Choughs 
