CHOUGH OR RED-LEGGED CROW. 259 



a pet in his garden, and whose account, given in 

 his Supplement, will be found interesting, states, 

 His natural food is evidently the smallest in- 

 sects, even the minute species he picks out of the 

 crevices of the walls, and searches for them in 

 summer with great diligence. The common grass- 

 hopper is a great dainty, and the fern-chaffer is 

 another scarce but favourite morsel. Worms are 

 wholly rejected ; he sometimes eats barley with 

 the pheasants, and never refuses hempseed." 



When the situation of the nests was ap- 

 proached, no great restlessness or anxiety was 

 exhibited. They were placed in rents of the 

 rocks, in the entrances of the caves, or in over- 

 hanging ledges of rock, built much in the same 

 manner as those of the true Crows. The eggs, 

 from five to seven in number, are of a verditer 

 or bluish green, spotted and blotched with blackish 

 brown, some specimens nearly resembling those 

 of the Jackdaw, and apparently subject to nearly 

 the same variation. As previously stated, this 

 species inhabits the alpine parts of the European 

 Continent, and most probably extends to the 

 mountainous portions immediately across the 

 frontier, being found in India and Himalaya.* 



This beautiful species is entirely of a deep 

 glossy black above, with steel blue and green 

 reflections ; plumage on the head and neck rather 

 loose and tinted with purple ; underneath, of a 

 deep and uniform tint with less lustre. The 

 bill is of a brilliant vermilion red, strong, 

 * Teram, Sup. i, 70, 



