GRACULTN^. 113 



compressed, rather acute, their sides flattened and erect. 

 Plumage dense, very soft, glossy, blended ; feathers of the 

 head short ; small decurved bristles ; wings long ; the first 

 quill very short and narrow, the fourth longest ; tail of mode- 

 rate length, even, of twelve broad truncate feathers. 



The Fregili, of which two species occur in Europe, in- 

 habit rocks and towers, where they also nestle, and search 

 the open pastures for worms and insects. They are grega- 

 rious, and resemble the Crows and Starlings in their habits. 



56. FREGILUS GRACULUS. LONG-BILLED CHOUGH. 



Bill longer than the head, attenuated, and with the feet 

 vermilion ; plumage black, highly glossed, with purplish-blue 

 and green tints ; feathers of the head and neck blended ; tail 

 even, about the same length as the closed wings. 



Male, 17, 34, 11|, 2J, 2 A, 1J, T V 



Occurs in flocks in various parts of England, Ireland, and 

 Scotland, residing in maritime cliffs, and feeding in the pas- 

 tures on worms, larvae, insects, and occasionally seeds. Its 

 note is loud and clear, its flight and mode of walking quicker 

 than those of the Crows. It nestles in rocks or caves, laying 

 five eggs, " of a dull white, sprinkled with light brown and 

 ash-coloured spots, most at the larger end." 



Chough. Cornish Chough. Cornish Daw. Cornwall Kae. 

 Chauk Daw. Killigrew. Red-legged Crow. 



Corvus Graculus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 158. Pyrrhocorax 

 Graculus, Temrn. Man. d'Ornith. i. 122. Fregilus Graculus, 

 Long-billed Chough, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, i. 587. 



FAMILY XIII. GBACULIN.E. GRACULINE 

 BIKDS, OB GRAKLES. 



Assuming the genus Gracula of Cuvier as typical or 

 characteristic of a group of birds, allied to the Crows on 

 the one hand, and to the Thrushes on the other, I here 

 substitute the family name of GRACULIN^E for that of 

 Thremmaphilince, which I have elsewhere used to desig- 

 nate the same group. Several authors name these birds 

 Sturnidse, but the genus Sturnus seems to me to be one 

 of the least characteristic. The student who confines his 



H 



