528 



NATURAL niSTUllY OF BIRDS. 



Our Inst fijinrc of birds of this family needs only a few touches of color to give a 

 striking jiieture of two remarkable species. IJoth are uniform black, the upper figure, 

 the chough {^Frey'dus yraculus), with feet and bill vermilion red, while the Aljnne 

 species (/•'j/;v7iocc»'«.c^H/w/(Ofor«.>") has the bill yellow. Both forms arc inhabitants 

 of mountainous districts in the southern parts of the Palajarctic region, the first-men- 

 tioned even so far north as the British Islands. They differ considerably from the 



^ 



Fio. 261. — Fregilm graculus, chough ; Pijrrhocorax pyrrhocorox, Alpine chough. 



rest of the crows in several respects, their bills being much weaker, and the nostrils 

 are placed much higher and nearer the culmen. Liter se they differ .■igain, as seen in 

 the figure, by the sha|>c of the bill, and the chough by having booted tai-si. They 

 stand quite isolated among the crows of the present day, and several facts point 

 towards tlicir bting only tlio last survivals of a once numerous group, which before 

 long will succumb and become finally extinct. Its fate in the British Islands is very 

 suggestive, as will be seen by the following extracts from Mr. Seebohm's recent 



