268 BRITISH SEA BIRDS. 



elsewhere in the British Islands it nests freely. In 

 many Scottish and Irish districts it makes its nest 

 on a sea-cliff. This resembles that of the Raven or 

 the Jackdaw, being made of sticks, twigs, turf, 

 and stalks, lined with moss, wool, and other soft 

 materials. Five eggs are usually laid, green of 

 various shades in ground colour, spotted and 

 blotched with olive-brown and gray. The note 

 of the Hooded Crow is a hoarse kra, modulated 



in various ways. 



CHOUGH. 



For reasons which have been variously assigned, 

 the present species, the Pyrrhocorax graculus of 

 ornithologists, has now become one of the rarest 

 and most local of British birds. Once fairly 

 common, not only in certain inland localities, but 

 on the sea-girt cliffs, many of its colonies have now 

 become deserted, It is a bird of the rock-bound 

 coast, easily recognized by its blue-black plumage 

 and long, curved, red bill. It is not necessary here 

 to indicate the places where colonies still exist. 

 The Chough is a gregarious bird, and many of 

 its habits resemble those of the Jackdaw or the 

 Starling. Its flight is often curiously erratic, the 

 bird, after rising a little way, dropping again with 

 wings closed. Upon the ground it runs quickly, its 

 bright red legs and feet being conspicuous. The 

 note is very like that of the Jackdaw, a chuckling 

 or cackling chow-chow ; hence the bird's name of 

 -Chough, which, by the way, is often used with the 



