366 INSESSORES. FREGILUS. Chough. 



the loftier regions, and the confines of the glaciers, where it 

 breeds, associated with the Alpine Chough (a species of the 

 nearly-allied genus Pyrrhocoraoc). With us, it is seldom 

 seen far inland, breeding on the sea-cliffs, or in old castles 



Nest, &c. and church-towers near the shore. — The nest is formed of 

 sticks, lined with a great quantity of wool and hair. The 

 eggs are of a bluish-white colour, speckled at the larger end 

 with yellowish-brown. It is a bird of a Hvely gait, and of a 

 restless and crafty disposition, and, like many of the Crow 

 genus, its attention is particularly caught by ghttering ob- 



Food. jects. Its natural food principally consists of insects, even 

 the smallest of which it is enabled to reach in the crevices of 

 rocks and the joints of walls, by the aid of its slender and 

 sharp-pointed biU. It also eats grain and berries. 



It has been remarked, that the Chough will not alight 

 upon the turf, if it can possibly avoid it, always preferring 

 gravel, stones, or walls. It is easily domesticated, when be- 

 gun with at an early period ; and an interesting account of 

 a tame bird of this species is given by Montagu, in the 

 Supplement to his Ornithological Dictionary, to which my 

 readers are referred. 



Plate 33. Natural size. 



General BiU long, slender, and considerably arched, of a beauti- 



descnp- j^j orpiment orange-colour. Irides yellowish-brown. 



Whole plumage black, glossed with purple and blue. 



Legs and toes the same colour as the bill. Claws black, 



strong, and hooked. 



The female is of a similar plumage to the male, but rather 



less in size. 

 The young of this species, according to Temminck, have 

 dark-coloured legs previous to the first moult ; but 

 Montagu asserts them to be oi-ange-coloured from the 

 nest. 



