PYRRHOCORAX 405 



PYRRHOCORAX Vieffl., 1816. 

 576. CHOUGH. 



PYRRHOCORAX GRACULUS. 



Pyrrhocorax graculus (Linn.), Syst. Nat. i. p. 158 (1766) ; (Naum.) ii. 

 p. 114, Taf. 57, fig. 2 ; (Hewitson), i. p. 218, pi. Ivi ; (Gould), B. of 

 E. iii. pi. 219 ; id. B. of Gt. Brit. iii. pi. 62 ; Newton, ii. p. 252 ; 

 Dresser, iv. p. 437, pi. 251, fig. 1 ; (Sharpe), Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. 

 p. 146 ; (Tacz.), F. 0. Sib. 0. p. 538 ; Saunders, p. 231 ; Lilford, ii. 

 p. 56, pi. 24 ; P. eremita (Linn.), Syst. Nat. i. p. 159 (1766) ; 

 (Gates), F. Brit. Ind. Birds, i. p. 43. 



Crave, French ; Grajo, Jucala, Span. ; Steinkrahe, German ; 

 Klmchitza, Bortevschik, Russ. 



<$ ad. (England). Jet black, the upper parts glossed with steel-blue 

 and steel-violet ; beak and legs vermilion-red ; claws black ; iris brown. 

 Culmen 2*1, wing 10'9, tail 5 '8, tarsus 21 inch. Sexes alike. The young 

 are duller in colour and have the beak and legs brownish orange. 



Hob. The Chough inhabits Great Britain, but neither 

 Scandinavia nor northern Europe, though found in southern 

 France, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Italy, Sicily, Greece, and 

 the Urals ; the Canaries, North Africa, as far south as Abyssinia, 

 Asia Minor and Asia as far east as China, north to south-east 

 Siberia and south to the Himalayas. 



Throughout its range it is resident, inhabiting higher altitudes 

 during the summer, descending lower for the winter. Its flight 

 is erratic and resembles that of the Jackdaw, and its note is 

 not unlike that of that species but is clearer and shriller. It 

 feeds on insects of various kinds, and to some extent on grain. 

 Its nest is placed in a fissure in the rocks, is tolerably large and 

 is constructed of sticks, and well lined with roots, wool, and 

 hair, and the eggs, 4 to 5 in number, which are usually de- 

 posited in April or May, are white or creamy white, sometimes 

 with a greenish tinge, with faint purplish underlying shell- 

 markings and have brown surface-spots and blotches, and in 

 size average about 1'58 by 1*10. 



Birds from the Himalayas are as a rule somewhat larger than 

 those from Europe, and Gould separated them, calling the 

 Himalayan bird Fregilus hwialayanus but no one now reckons 

 them as separable. In the British Islands the haunts of the 

 Chough are confined to certain parts of the sea-coast and, 

 except as a straggler, it is never seen inland. 



