252 



PASSERES. 



COUVl'DM. 



CORVIDJ^. 



Pyrrhocokax graculus (Linnoeus*). 

 THE CHOUGH. 



Fregilns graculus. 



Ptrrhocorax, TunstaU'f. — Beak hard, slender, compressed, arched, and 

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

 graduated ; first primary much shorter tlian 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 oiiter 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 cliflfs, though 

 it apparently frequented a good many inland localities in 

 former times. Merrett in 1667 speaks of it as found "in 



* Corvus (iraculus, Liunteus, Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 158 (1766). 

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



