440 



as follows : — " I found this species very common in the valley that runs from Villa do Bispo 

 down to the Atlantic Ocean. They passed to and fro with such regularity that I could kill 

 several without any trouble at all. At the end of the valley I found the nests, but in a place 

 where I could not possibly reach them. This colony was composed of thirty or forty pairs, 

 some of which were busy building ; and this was the reason for their regular flight, as they were 

 bringing from the fields the roots of different plants for their nests." 



The various authors on Spanish ornithology record it as found in that country : Mr. Howard 

 Saunders speaks of it (Ibis, 1871, p. 221) as being " abundant in the mountain districts, especially 

 at the back of the Sierra Nevada, where it appeared to be more numerous than P. alpinus." 

 Dr. A. E. Brehm observed it in several localities in Spain, especially near Murcia, where it is 

 said to have settled only a few years ago. It is a resident in that country. Passing eastward, 

 again, I find it recorded by Bailly as " sedentary in Savoy, but nowhere numerous ; and the 

 only localities where it may always be met with during summer are the Alps of Maurienne, 

 Mont Cenis, especially near the summits of perpetual snow, and the higher portions of Faucigny. 

 It is furthermore met with in the more elevated regions of the Bauges and Tarantaise, where 

 scattered pairs may be seen, which, however, after the period of nidification, leave these localities 

 to resort to more elevated portions of the Alps." In Switzerland, according to Naumann, it is 

 everywhere rarer than the Alpine Chough, and inhabits the most elevated portions of the country, 

 as the Ormonder Mountains, near Aigle, in Canton Leman, the mountains of Wallis, St. Bern- 

 hard, and the southern chain of the Alps generally, which divide Wallis from Italy. In Italy it 

 is met with throughout the mountainous parts of the country, and in the Islands of Sicily and 

 Sardinia; in which latter island, Mr. A. B. Brooke writes (Ibis, 1873, p. 248), it is common on 

 the higher ranges in the centre of the island, but there are none in the Monte-Limas range. In 

 Southern Germany it is stated by Naumann to occur, though very rarely, in Bavaria, Styria, 

 Karnthen, and the Tyrol, and equally rarely in the Jura and Vogesen Mountains ; but Seidensacher 

 informed me that he had only seen the Alpine Chough in Styria ; and later authors on South- 

 German ornithology make but little reference to the present species. Both Von der Muhle and 

 Lindermayer record it from Greece. The former states that it is most common on the G3ta 

 Mountains, in Rumelia ; and Lindermayer writes that he met with it on Mount Hymettus, and 

 further north on the Parnassus, the CEta Mountains, on Taygetus, the Parthenon Mountains, 

 near Tripolizza, and in Acarnania. Neither Lord Lilford nor Messrs. Elwes and Buckley ever 

 met with it in Turkey proper; but the latter gentlemen remark (Ibis, 1870, p. 191) that they 

 got a specimen from Mr. Robson which was obtained at Kara Hissr, in Asia Minor. Professor 

 von Nordmann says that it does not inhabit the portion of Southern Russian where he collected, 

 but that it is abundant in the Caucasus. Canon Tristram says that he never observed the 

 common Chough in Palestine ; nor has it been recorded from Egypt ; but it is said by Von 

 Heuglin to inhabit the mountains of Arabia Petraea, and is found in Abyssinia, in which latter 

 country Mr. Blanford writes (Geol. & Zool. of Abyss, p. 395) that he once met with it on the 

 Wadela plateau, near Gazo, at an elevation of 10,500 feet, but did not secure a specimen. 



In North-west Africa it is stated by Loche to inhabit only the highest mountains of Algeria, 

 such as those near Djelfa and Boghar, where it breeds. Mr. O. Salvin says that he used not 

 unfrequently to see it about the hills which surround the plain that holds the Marsh of Zana ; 



