60 THE CROW FAMILY 



each, and then covering them over with leaves or earth. As they not 

 infrequently forget the whereabouts of their hoards, the nuts or grains 

 take root. Thus the jay becomes unwittingly a planter of trees and 

 corn. The same applies to rooks. They are said to be largely respon- 

 sible for the dispersal of acorns, but it is not clear that this is due to 

 any deliberate intention to hoard, as the birds are in the habit of 

 plucking off the acorns from the trees and carrying them to be eaten 

 on the ground, where they sometimes leave them lying about or half 

 buried. There is, however, some evidence that they do bury fir- 

 cones. The magpie undoubtedly hoards. In the winter hoard of one 

 thrifty bird the following objects were found nuts, almonds, apples, 

 scraps of bread, bones, fragments of china, bits of coloured cloth, and 

 a thimble. 1 



THE CHOUGH 

 [F. B. KIRKMAN] 



The chough is a comparatively rare bird, and becoming rarer, 

 a fact which accounts perhaps for the little that is known of its 

 habits. Like the other Corvidse, it makes a very interesting 

 pet, and like them again is capable of strong affection. Dr. A. 

 Girtanner, a well-known Swiss ornithologist, relates that a pet chough 

 which he lost and recovered, manifested boundless joy on returning 

 once more to the familiar quarters and hearing the familiar voices. 

 It uttered excited cries as if beside itself, and sprang and danced 

 about the room and before its master in the most extravagant manner. 

 It behaved, indeed, very much as a dog would under similar circum- 

 stances. 



The same bird was fond of hiding various objects, and had 

 for that purpose a private box of its own, in which it kept a varied 



1 For hoarding by the jay see the Field, 1880, Iv. 390 ; J. B. Bailly, Ornithologie de la Savoie, ii. 

 p. 125, 1853 ; V. Fatio, Faune de la Suisse, ii. ; Naumann, Vogel Mitteleuropas, iv. (edit. Hennicke). 

 For the magpie J. B. Jaubert, etc., Recherches ornithologiques du midi, p. 102, 1859 ; V. Fatio, op. 

 tit. ; J. B. Bailly, op. cit. For the rook Field, 1880, Ivi. 843 ; id., 1903, cii. 803, 927 ; Clement Reid, 

 Origin of the British Flora. For the chough Zoologisches Garten, 1877, p. 116 (A. Girtanner). 



