20 



NATURAL HISTORY. 



changed into a low chuckling note. Sometimes their cry resembled the whining of young puppies so 

 exactly as almost to defy detection." 



SECOND SUB-FAMILY OF THE CROWS. THE CHOUGHS (Fregilina). 



In this sub-family, which contains only a few species, the bill is long and gently curved, and the 

 nostrils are placed low down in the upper mandible. They are hidden by a dense tuft of bristles. In 



England the sub-family is represented by the Red-billed or "Cornish" Chough, the same species 

 which is alluded to in the old English glee 



"The Chough and Crow to roost are gone." 



In Cornwall and the south-west of England the bird is no longer very plentiful, but is found on the 

 rocky coasts of parts of Wales, the Hebrides, ifec. In the mountains of Switzerland and Southern 

 Europe the Alpine Chough (Pyrrhocorax alpinus] occurs, ranging as far as the Himalayas, and in 

 Australia the sub-family is represented by the White-winged Chough (Corcorax melanorhamphus). 

 A word, too, must be said about the curious Desert Choughs (Podoces), which inhabit Central Asia, 

 where they are found only in the dreary sandy wastes and deserts which stretch from Bokhara to 

 Eastern Tibet, 



