68 CORVIDA. 
more profusely spotted with white, and the white on the lower 
plumage is so extensive as to sometimes make this look almost 
wholly white. 
Colours of soft parts. Iris red-brown ; bill horny brown; legs 
and feet black. 
Measurements. Length about 350 mm.; wing 190 to 210 mm., 
average about 200 or rather less; tail 160 to 170 mm.; tarsus about 
40 mm.; bill about 50 mm. and decidedly more slender than in 
hemispila and its subspecies, 
Distribution. N.W. Himalayas from Afghanistan, Gilgit, 
Kashmir, Ladakh to S.E. Tibet, whence I have had specimens 
sent me. Chambi Valley in Tibet and Sikkim, 
Nidification. Ezgs sent me by Mr. D. Macdonald with the 
parent birds from the Chambi Valley are exactly like those of 
the European Nutcracker, very pale blue-green speckled with dark 
brown sparsely everywhere and a little more numerous at the 
larger end. They measure about 33°6 x 24°6 mm. 
The nests were said to be neat facsimiles of those of the Indian 
House-Crow, but neater and with a lining of pine-needles. 
Habits. These differ in no way from those of the last bird. 
Osmaston says that it feeds principally on the seeds of the Blue 
Pine (Pinus excelsa) and of the Spruce (Picea morinda). 
Genus PYRRHOCORAX Vieill., 1816. 
The genus Pyrrhocorax contains the Choughs, of which there 
are two species—P. pyrrhocorav, the Red-billed Chough, and 
P. graculus, the Yellow-billed Chough, which occur unchanged 
over a great area of three continents. Both are found within 
Indian limits. 
They resemble the true Crows in colour, but differ from them 
all in having the bill and feet brilliantly coloured. 
The bill is long and slender and gently curved throughout its 
length ; the narial plumes are very short and dense, The tarsus 
is quite smooth, differing markedly from the true Crows in this 
respect. 
(48) Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax. 
Tre Rup-BILLED CHoucH. 
Upupa pyrrhocorax Linn., Syst. Nat., ed. x, p. 118 (1758) (England). 
Graculus eremita. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 45. 
Vernacular names. Vsayh (Kandahar). 
Description. The whole pluinage glossy black. 
Colours of soft parts. Iris brown; legs and feet vermilion-red, 
claws black ; bill vermilion-red. 
Measurements. Total length about 450 mm.; wing 270 to 
315 mm.; tail 150 to 170 mm.; culmen 45 to 60 mm.; tarsus 
45 to 53 mm. 
