202 



VEKTEBRATA. 



times otHiir. It feeds on insects and worms, and is supposed to be very beneficial to the farmers 

 by the iinmeiisc number of noxious creatures which it thus destroys. It constructs its nests in 

 h'i<>-li trees, and often hundreds, and indeed thousands, build in the same wood, constituting what 

 is called a Jiookcnj. This is usually placed near human liabitations, and indeed these birds often 

 breed iu trees in laro-e cities. A few years since a pair of them built between the wings of the 

 drati-on on 13ow Church, London; others have built in Manchester, Newcastle, &c. They are 

 diffused over a great part of Europe, aiid arc very abundant in England and Ireland ; we often 

 see them referred to in English books. Their intelligence is remarkable ; when tamed they be- 

 come attached to their keeper, and perform many amusing tricks. 



THE JACKDAW. 



The Jackdaw, C. monedula — the Choucas of Temrainck ; Corneille des Clochers of the French 

 — is fourteen inches long ; color black ; smoke-gray on the neck ; eggs four to six ; the nests are 

 made in church-towers, belfries, steeples, and hollow trees and rabbit-burrows; many of them 

 build in the higher parts of Windsor Castle, and in the churches of large towns in England ; 

 flocks are constantly seen in Paris, frequenting the trees in the garden of the Tuileries, and nest- 

 ling in the churches and public buildings. They are a sociable, cheerful, and active race, flying 

 about from place to place, and filling the air with their cries, which resemble the notes of young 

 crows. They eat indiscriminately insects, seeds, grain, eggs, carrion, fish, shell-fish, and soft gar- 

 den vegetables. They are said to pair for life. They are cunning birds, have a turn for imita- 

 tion, and in confinement learn to speak some words. They are distributed throughout Europe 

 and Northern Asia, and are not migratory. i 



Genus FREGILUS : Frcgilus. — This includes the Chough or Red-legged Crow, F. graculus ' 

 of Cuvier, sixteen inches long; color black, glossed with blue; feeds on insects, berries and grain; 

 builds its nest of sticks, lined wnth wool, in the cavities of cliff's, old castles, and church-towers 

 near the sea. It inhabits the high rocky regions of Middle Europe and Asia, frequents the cliffs ' 

 of Great Britain along the British Channel, and being common in the mountains of Cornwall, is j 

 often called the Cornish Chough. It is intelligent, and Avhcn domesticated is an exceedingly { 



amusmo- creature. 



Genus PYRRHOCORAX : Pyrrhocorax. — This includes the Alpixe Chough, Chocard of , 

 the French, P. Alpinus, fifteen inches long ; black, with green reflections ; lives in troops in the ? 

 mountains of Central Europe in summer, and descends to the valleys in winter ; habits like the 

 preceding. 



Genus PICA : Pica. — This includes the Magpie — Gazza of the Italians, Pie of the French, 

 and Mster of the Germans — P. caudata, eighteen inches long; the head, neck, back, and upper, 

 tail coverts jet black; throat grayish-white; scapulars pure Avhite ; wing-coverts and tertials of a? 



