CXII. 



FREGILUS GKACULUS. (Cuv.) 



Cornish Chough. Rku-leggkd Crow. 



To the persevering kindness of the Rev. W. D. Fox, I am 

 indebted for the egg from which the accompanying drawing 

 is made, together with the nest in which it was taken, with 

 four others. The Red-legged Crow is tolerably frequent 

 around the British islands. It abounds on the Isle of Man ; 

 is said to breed on some of the Western Isles of Scotland ; is 

 met with sparingly near Berwick-ou-T weed, and on the coasts 

 of Devonshire and Cornwall. Mr. Fox has also observed 

 them on all the steep rocks and promontories of the Isle of 

 Wight, and on the noble cliffs of the Isle of Purbeck, in 

 Dorsetshire. It is likewise found on most of the rocky shores 

 of North and South Wales. 



It is, notwithstanding its pretty general distribution, a matter 

 of great difficulty to procure its eggs ; and it was not till after 

 some years of fruitless endeavour, that Mr. Fox succeeded in 

 obtaining them. This, he tells me, is owing to the " excessive 

 caution the birds employ in selecting their places of nidifica- 

 tion. These are always on the face of the steep cliff, and in 

 general in clefts, far in ; the passage to which turns at right 

 angles frequently, so that you cannot reach the nest, or even 

 see it." He adds, " I obtained a young one, which I much 

 regretted losing, as he promised to be very clever, and attached 

 to me. He followed me very well, and seemed to have all the 

 cunning of the Magpie." Montague mentions an instance of 

 a pair of Choughs, which bred for many years in the ruins of 

 Crow Castle, in the vale of Llangollen. And Temminck says, 

 that they breed on trees, though rarely. 



The nest is composed outwardly of sticks, succeeded by a 

 quantity of roots and dry grass, lined with very fine roots, 

 grass, and wool. If I may judge from the specimens of the 

 eggs which I have seen, they differ but slightly from Fig. 1, 

 of the plate. 



