Chough. 215 



Signer de Betta,* a translation of which I obtained from the pen 

 of my lamented friend Mr. William Long, of West Hay, which 

 I sent to the editor of the Zoologist in 1878, and which was 

 published the same year in that periodical.t 



CORVID^E (THE CROWS). 



This is a very large and important family, very numerous too, 

 and widely distributed, and most of its members, being of 

 considerable size, attract more general attention than the pre- 

 ceding smaller and more retiring birds, and are therefore familiar 

 to the least observant. Their general characteristics are stout, 

 compact body; large head; thick, short neck; beak large, straight, 

 and pointed ; legs strong and well adapted for walking with ease 

 as well as for perching. Their flight, too, is strong and even ; and 

 as regards their appetite, they seem to devour everything they 

 meet with, being truly omnivorous, and refusing nothing eatable 

 which comes in their way. From these several properties the 

 Crows have been styled the most perfect of the winged creation ; 

 and it has been remarked that they seem to have received some 

 peculiar property from each order of birds, by which they stand 

 in the centre of the feathered kingdom, reflecting the charac- 

 teristics of the whole, being so well fitted for walking, equally 

 powerful on the wing, inhabitants of all climates, and capable of 

 subsisting on all kinds of food. Notwithstanding their frequent 

 association with man, they are a vigilant, cautious race, ever on 

 the watch for an enemy, and scenting danger from afar. 



93. CHOUGH (Fregilus graculus). 



This is scarcely a true Crow, but rather a link between the 

 Starlings and Crows, partaking most, however, of the habits and 

 appearance of the latter. It is a very graceful, elegant bird, and 

 slender in form ; its plumage of a glossy bluish-black, strongly 

 contrasted with which are the beak, legs, and feet, which are of 

 a bright vermilion-red or deep orange colour. The beak is very 



* Atti del R. Istifcuto Veneto, ser. v. ii. 

 t Zoologist for 1878, p. 16. 



