580 BRITISH BIRDS. ‘ 
The Chough is seen in pairs at all seasons of the year; and there can 
be little doubt that it is mated to its partner for life. Its breeding- 
season in our islands commences early in May. ‘The nesting-site is often 
in the most inaccessible part of the cliff, where the rocks overhang and~ 
drop down almost smooth as a wall to the ocean below. Macgillivray and 
Newton, however, state that the bird will make its nest in buildings; and 
it is very possible that, as with the Jackdaw, these situations were a 
favourite choice in the legendary days when the bird was a resident of the 
inland districts. The nest is usually placed in some crevice or hole in a 
rock, sometimes at a considerable distance from the opening, where it 
is absolutely impossible to obtain the eggs. It is made of sticks and 
heather-stems, and lined with dry grass, roots, and wool, sometimes with 
hair. It is often a large structure, but, as is usual with birds nesting in 
holes, seldom very compactly made. The eggs of the Chough are from 
three to six in number. ‘They range from creamy white to gregnish 7 
white in ground-colour, spotted with brown of various shades, and dashed 
with underlying markings of purplish grey ; they vary considerably as to | 
the amount of markings upon them. In some eggs the spots are large and | 
bold, scattered irregularly over the surface; in others they are finer and 
more evenly dispersed, or are collected together in a mass at the larger | 
end, many of them being confluent. One egg in my collection (from 
Rathlin Island) has almost the whole of the colouring-matter distributed in 
small underlying markings; and the entire egg is suffused with a delicate 
rosy tinge. Some specimens have a few dark streaks upon them. They 
measure from 1°65 to 1:4 inch in length, and from 1:15 to 1 inch in 
breadth. That the Chough will sometimes breed in confinement is proved ; 
by an interesting note communicated to the ‘ Zoologist’ (1882, p. 431) by . 
Miss Nevill. 
The Chough has the entire plumage rich black, beautifully glossed, 
especially on the upper parts, with steel-blue; the wings and tail, in addi- } 
tion to the steel-blue gloss, also display violet and purple reflections. The 
beak, which is long and curved, and the legs and feet are vermilion-red ; 
claws black ; irides brown. The female does not differ from the male in 
colour, but may do so a little in size, being a trifle smaller. Young birds 
resemble the adults, but are duller, and the plumage exhibits but little 
gloss. The beak and legs when the bird is very young are, according to 
Mr. Lumsden, quoted by Dresser, brownish orange, gradually becoming 
reddish orange as the bird gets older, then finally red. 
One specimen of the Alpine Chough (P. alpinus) has been twice recorded 
in the pages of the ‘ Zoologist’ (1881, pp. 422,471, and 1882, p. 481). It 
appears to have been shot by a keeper at Broughton Castle, Banbury, 
Oxfordshire, on the 8th of April 1881. Although the appearance of the 
bird bore no evidence of its ever having been kept in confinement, still 
