CHOUGH. 



57 



From the Starling and Pastor, the birds last described, 

 the transition to the true Crows, by the intervening Chough, 

 is easy and natural. The Crows generally, as observed by 

 Mr. Swainson, " exhibit the greatest perfection, and the 

 most varied powers, with Avhich nature has invested this class 

 of animals. This superiority consists, not in the extraor- 

 dinary developement of any one particular organ or quality, 

 but in the union of nearly all those powers which have been 

 separately assigned to other families. This perfection is best 

 exemplified by looking to the economy of the ordinary Crows. 

 In every climate, habitable to man, these birds are found. 

 They are as well constructed for powerful flight, as for walk- 

 ing Avith a firm and stately pace on the earth. They feed 

 indiscriminately on animals or on vegetables ; and when 

 pressed by hunger, refuse not carrion : hence their smell is 

 remarkably acute. They are bold, but wary ; live in com- 

 mon societies, and possess great courage. When domesti- 

 cated, they evince a power of imitating the human voice 

 nearly equal to that of the Parrot ; while their cunning, 

 pilfering, and hoarding dispositions, are all symptoms of 

 greater intelligence than is found in most other families of 

 birds." 



The Cornish Chough, for which the genus Fregi'lus was 

 established by Cuvier, is readily distinguished from the true 

 Crows by the peculiar form of its beak. In this country the 

 Chough is not a common bird, and is besides almost exclu- 

 sively confined to the sea coast, where it inhabits the highest 

 and most inaccessible portions of rocks or cliffs, about which 

 it walks securely by means of its strong legs, toes, and claws. 

 A bird kept by Colonel Montagu some years in his garden, 

 was never observed to walk upon the grass by choice ; and it 

 required a strong temptation to induce him to step off the 

 gravel. Montagu"'s account of this bird forms an interesting 

 illustration of the general habits of the species : — " His cu- 



