CHOUGH. 



61 



lishecl in 1578, and it is included also as a bird of Scotland 

 by Sir Robert Sibbald in his Scutia Illustrata, published in 

 1684; but further north than Scotland I find no notice 

 of it. 



The Chough is found, though rarely, in the channel island 

 of Jersey, but not in Guernsey. It is found on most of the 

 high ranges of mountains in France and Switzerland, on the 

 rocky country about Arragon in Spain ; it is found also in 

 the Isle of Crete, and in Egypt is said to inhabit the plains. 

 It is found on the mountains of Persia, in the countries be- 

 tween the Black and the Caspian Seas, and north of the Cauca- 

 sian range to the southern part of Siberia ; it is also found 

 on the Himalaya Mountains. 



The plumage of this bird is uniformly black, glossed with 

 blue ; the irides of two circles and two colours, the inner 

 ring red, the outer ring blue ; the eyelids red ; the inside of 

 the mouth and the tongue yellow ; the wings reach nearly 

 to the end of the tail, shining with more metallic lustre than 

 the other parts of the plumage ; the beak, legs, and toes, 

 vermilion red ; the claws shining black. 



In the family of the Crows, the males are larger than the 

 females. The male in this species measures almost seven- 

 teen inches in length. The beak from the projecting feathers 

 to the point one inch and seven-eighths : from the carpal 

 joint of the wing to the end of the longest quill-feather 

 eleven inches and three-quarters ; the first feather full three 

 inches shorter than the second, and this an inch shorter than 

 the third ; the fourth a little longer than the third, and the 

 longest in the wing. 



The female of this species, obligingly sent me from Tyne- 

 ham, in the Isle of Purbeck, by Mr. Thomas Bond, mea- 

 sured foiu'teen inches and a half in length ; the beak one 

 inch and a half from the projecting feathers to the point ; 

 the wing from the carpal joint to the end nine inches and 



