784 The Sparrow-like Birds 



and it seems not unlikely are on the road to extermination. Once fairly common 

 in the British Islands, it is now sadly depleted and hardly holds its own, being 

 confined to a few isolated points along the rock-bound coasts where there are 

 precipitous cliffs, while in other parts of Europe and northern Africa it has been 

 pushed away from the coasts and now inhabits only the high mountains inland. 

 "In size, flight, language, habits, and general apearance," says Hudson, "the 

 Chough comes nearest to the Jackdaw, but it is a much handsomer bird. Its 

 cry, uttered both when perched and when on the wing, differs only from that 

 of the Daw in its more ringing and melodious sound. Its flight is easy and 

 buoyant, and the birds are fond of aerial pastimes, similar to those of the Jack- 

 daw, during which the members of the company pursue one another in play, 

 and frequently tumble down from a great height through the air as if disabled. 

 They feed inland, often going long distances from the cliffs they inhabit to seek 

 their food, like Rooks, in meadows and pasture lands. They also follow the 

 plow to pick up worms and grubs, and are said to eat carrion, berries, and grain. 

 On the sand and rocks they feed on the animal refuse left by the tides." The 

 Chough lives in communities, placing the large bulky nest in a hole or crevice 

 in the most inaccessible part of the cliffs, lining it with rootlets, wool, hair, etc. 

 The four to six eggs are white, spotted and blotched with brownish. 



Alpine Chough. Inhabiting the mountains of southern Europe and thence 

 eastward to the Himalayas is a slightly larger species, the Alpine Chough (Pyr- 

 rhocorax pyrrhocorax}, which has a much shorter bill, the color of which is yellow, 

 with a slight orange tinge. It spends the summer at elevations up to 15,000 

 feet or over, but in winter comes down into the valleys, though never to the 

 seacoast. Its habits, notes, and nidification are similar to those of the former 

 species. 



Australian White-winged Chough. Australia possesses a representative of 

 this group in the remarkable White-winged Chough (Corcorax mdanorhamphus\ 

 which frequents the open forest land of the interior over a large area. It is 

 sixteen or more inches in length and has the plumage black, with glossy green 

 reflections, set off with scarlet eyes, while the inner webs of the primaries are 

 white. It goes about in small parties of from six to ten individuals and is very 

 tame and confiding, gaining most of its livelihood upon the ground over which 

 it runs with considerable swiftness. Of its habits Gould says: "During flight 

 the white markings of the wing shows very conspicuously, and on alighting 

 the bird displays many curious actions, leaping from branch to branch with 

 surprising swiftness, at the same time spreading the tail and moving it up and 

 down in a very singular manner; on being disturbed it peeps and pries down 

 upon the intruder below, and generally utters a harsh, grating, disagreeable, 

 and tart note; at other times, while perched among the branches of the trees, 

 it makes the woods ring with its peculiar, soft, low, very pleasing but mournful 

 pipe." It builds a large, conspicuous, bowl-shaped nest of mud scantily lined 

 inside with stringy bark, grass, and sometimes feathers, placing it on a horizontal 

 limb of a tree. It appears that all the members of a party combine in building 

 the nest and perhaps as many as four or five females deposit their eggs in it, 



