THE CHOUGH. 141 



In colouring the Chough is shining black, glossed with blue and purple ; the 

 wings slightly greenish ; the bill and feet are orange-vermilion ; iris brown. The 

 female is a little smaller than the male. Young birds have the bill and feet dull 

 orange. 



The haunts of the Chough are chiefly sea-side cliffs and rugged mountain 

 sides, and Dixon mentions that he observed a colony in Algeria "in a low ridge 

 of rocks, on the side of one of the barren stony valleys near the snow-capped 

 summit" of Djebel Mahmel. It is gregarious in its habits and appears to pair 

 for life. Its flight is somewhat characteristic ; consisting largely, as Howard 

 Saunders says, of "a series of curves in the air, alternately rising with a scream, 

 and then suddenly dropping with almost closed wings " ; its red bill is distin- 

 guishable at a considerable distance : on the earth it both walks and runs. 



Seebohm renders the cry of the Chough as Khe^-o^ khee'-o; but Howard 

 Saunders says " The usual cry is a clear metallic ' Kling,' but in autumn I have 

 heard flocks uttering ' chough-chough ' very plainly." The food consists of insects 

 and their larvae, worms, probably mollusca, berries and grain. 



The nest is usually situated in some wholly inaccessible hole or crevice, often 

 at some distance from the opening, in the face of an overhanging cliff or near the 

 roof of a cave ; but sometimes in old castles, church-towers, or disused lime-kilns ; 

 it is constructed of dry plant-stems, frequently of heather, and lined with dead 

 grass, rootlets, wool, and hair, or with some of these materials only. The eggs, 

 three to six in number, vary from dull creamy to greenish-white in ground-colour, 

 and are more or less boldly spotted and streaked with various shades of brown 

 and grey, some specimens having the markings pretty evenly distributed over the 

 entire service, whilst others have them chiefly massed towards the larger extremity. 

 Nidification generally commences late in April or early in May. 

 Many local names have been given to this bird, amongst which those of 

 Cornish Crow and Red-legged Crow are somewhat freely used ; one of the names 

 Hermit Crow is hardly applicable to a bird which lives and breeds in colonies. 



Seebohm says that the " Chough, like the Rook, leaves its roosting- place early 

 in the morning, and repairs to the neighbouring pastures in search of food, some- 

 times even being seen to follow the plough to pick up worms and grubs. It is 

 always a restless and a wary bird, never remaining long in one spot, but shifting 

 its ground in short uncertain flights." 



It may be questioned whether this species ever attains a great age in confine- 

 ment, but it is very difficult to form any definite opinion, because of the apparent 

 carelessness with which exhibitors note the ages of birds : thus a Chough for many 

 years has taken a first prize at the Crystal Palace which seems to have been five 



VOL. II. Z 



