30 CHOUGH. 
that of the Jackdaw, but may be distinguished from it, 
and is rendered by Meyer by the words, ‘creea, creea,’ and 
‘deea.’ It has also a chatter, like the Starling. 
The nest is made of sticks, and is lined with wool and hair. 
It is placed in the most inaccessible clefts and cavities of 
cliffs, or in old church or other towers, generally in the 
neighbourhood of the sea, but not always, as will have appeared 
from the previous and other statements. 
The eggs, four or five in number, are dull white spotted 
with grey and brown, most at the thicker end. 
Male; length, between one foot four and one foot five inches; 
bill, red; yellow within—it is said to be very brittle: iris, red 
in the centre, surrounded by a circle of blue. The whole 
plumage is black, glossed with blue. The wings reach nearly 
to the end of the tail; the first feather is three inches shorter 
than the second, which is one inch shorter than the third, 
and the third a little less than the fourth, which is the 
longest in the wing. The tail is of a more metallic lustre 
than the rest of the plumage. Legs and toes, red; claws, 
glossy black, large, and much hooked. 
The female weighs about fourteen ounces; length, between 
one foot two and one foot three inches; her bill is shorter 
than that of the male. The quill feathers are less black than 
in the male. 
The young birds have but little of the purple gloss. Iris, 
yellowish brown; legs, orange. 
