PASSKRIN/E. 251 



PVRRIIOCOKAX*, CuV. 



Tlie Chocards have the compressed, arcuated, and sloped bill of the 

 Thrushes ; but their nostrils are covered with feathers, as in th$ Crows, 

 with which they were, for a long time, united. There is one in Europe 

 about the size of the Corv. monedula. 



Corvus pyrrhocorax, h. ; Chocard dcs Alpes, Enl. 531; Vieill. 

 Galer. 106; Naum. 57, 1. All black; the bill yellow; feet brown 

 at first, then yellow, and in the adult, red; it builds in the rocky fis- 

 sures of the highest mountains, whence, in the winter, it descends into 

 the valleys in large flocks. It feeds on insects, snails, grain, and 

 fruit, and does not despise carrion. 

 There is another in India, 



Pyrr hexanemus, Cuv. ; the Sicrin, Vaill. Afr. pi. Ixxxii. Dis- 

 tinguished by three barbless stalks as long as the body ; they grow 

 on each side among the feathers which cover the ear. 

 I can find no character sufficient to warrant their removal from the 

 Thrushes, 



Oriolus, Lin. 



Or the Orioles, whose bill, similar to that of the Thrushes, and is merely 

 a little stronger ; the feet a little shorter, and the wings a little bnger, 

 ill proportion. Linnaeus, and most of his followers, improperly united 

 Cassici with them, to which they have no other resemblance than that of 

 colours, 



O. galhula, L. ; Le loriot d' Europe, Enl. 26; Golden Thrush, 

 Yellow Thrush of the Germans, &c. Somewhat larger than the 

 Thrush; the male is of a fine yellow; wings, tail, and a spot be- 

 tween the eye and the bill, black ; tip of the tail yellow. During 

 its two first years, however, the yellow is replaced by an olive, and 

 the black by a brown, which is always the state of the female. 

 This bird suspends its skilfully wrought nest to branches of trees, 

 feeds on cherries, and other fruits, and, in the spring, on insects. It 

 is very shy, remains in France but a littl^ time during the summer, 

 and travels in pairs, or by threes. 



India produces some species tolerably similar to the preceding -j-, 

 but we must particularly distinguish from among that number the 

 Oriolus regens, Col. 320 — Serieula regens, Less, which is of the 

 finest silky black, with beautiful orange yellow, velvet feathers on 

 the head and neck, and a large spot of the same colour on the 

 wingi. 



Gym N OPS, Cuv. 

 The same strong bill as the Orioles ; the nostrils round, without scales 



* Vieill. has adopted this name and genus. 



t Oriolus cliiiiensis, Enl. 570; — Or. melanocephalus, Enl. 79, or Loriot rieur, Vaill. 

 Afr. 263;— the Loriot d'or, Vaill., 260; Vieill. Gal. 83;— the Coudougnan, Vaill. 2, 

 61; — the Oriolus xanthonntus, Horsf. Jav. 



X ^I. Lesson (Voy. Duperr., pi. xx.) gives as its female, a Thrush- coloured hird 

 which differs considerably in its proportions. 

 Y 2 



