58 CORVIDJ5. 



similar to that of a Rook ; but when walking on the 

 ground, from its slender form, the appearance of the bird 

 is more animated and its actions more graceful. 



Pennant says, " The Chough is found in small numbers 

 on Dover cliff, where they came by accident ; a gentleman 

 in that neighbourhood had a pair sent him as a present 

 from Cornwall, which escaped and stocked these rocks." 

 No date is mentioned, though apparently referring to his 

 own time ; but there is a poetical authority, at least, for 

 the existence of this bird at Dover at a much earlier date. 

 Shakspeare, in his description of the celebrated cliff which 

 now bears his name, says in reference to its height, 



" The Crows and Choughs* that wing the midway air 

 Show scarce so gross as beetles." 



Gilbert White in his 39th letter to Pennant, says, " Cor- 

 nish Choughs abound, and breed on Beachy-head and on all 

 the cliffs of the Sussex coast." I have seen it on the high- 

 est part of the cliffs between Freshwater Gate and the 

 Needle Lighthouse in the Isle of Wight. Mr. Thomas 

 Bond tells me this bird inhabits Gadcliff and Tyneham, in 

 the Isle of Purbeck. It is not uncommon in some parts 

 of Devonshire, as I learn from my friend Mr. George 

 Mello. In Cornwall, Dr. Borlase quoting Upton, who 

 wrote about the middle of the fifteenth century, says, the 

 Cornish Chough was so great a favourite in those days, 

 that some of the most ancient families bore these birds in 

 their coat armour. The Chough is noticed as peculiar to 

 Cornwall by Dr. William Turner in 1544, by Childrey in 

 1661, and by Merret in 1667. I have seen specimens from 



* Possibly Shakspeare meant Jackdaws, for in the Midsummer Night's 

 Dream he speaks of russet-pated (grey-headed) Choughs, which term is applicable 

 to the Jackdaw, but not to the real Chough. 



