446 



2 



almost solely restricted to the larger mountain-ranges in Europe, and found in Asia in the elevated 

 ranges of the Himalayas. 



It does not occur in Great Britain, Scandinavia, nor in Northern or Central Europe, except 

 in the elevated mountain districts of the latter. It has not been recorded from other portions of 

 France besides the Alpine districts, in the south-eastern departments, and in the Pyrenees ; and 

 even in Provence it is rare and confined to the most elevated districts. Professor Barboza du 

 Bocage includes it in his list of birds found in Portugal, without comment; and Dr. E. Rey 

 writes (J. f. O. 1872, p. 145) that he shot one near Sagres in that country, but never observed it 

 on any other occasion. It has, however, been met with in Spain ; and Dr. A. E. Brehm states 

 that in the more elevated mountains throughout that country it is not rare, and is resident. 

 Near Murcia it is always to be met with, he adds, at an altitude of about 800 feet. Mr. Howard 

 Saunders also records it (Ibis, 1871, p. 221) from Southern Spain, where, he says, it frequents 

 the same localities as P. gracuhos, but at a higher altitude. Passing eastward we find it 

 common in Switzerland and Savoy, where, Bailly says, it inhabits the entire chain of the Alps, 

 frequenting the most elevated regions during the summer, and only descends from these heights 

 during severe weather ; and Salvadori writes that it inhabits the Apennines and their spurs, but 

 has not been authentically recorded from Sicily or Sardinia. Lord Lilford writes (Ibis, 1860, 

 p. 136) that he has had many opportunities of closely observing its habits in the mountains near 

 Nice and in Piedmont, and he adds that he observed a pair in Epirus, in May 1857, when 

 chamois-hunting in the Acroceraunian mountains above Khimara, about forty miles north of 

 Corfu ; and it is recorded by both Von der Muhle and Lindermayer from Greece, where it is a 

 resident in all the mountain-ranges, descending in flocks into the lowlands during winter. 

 Mr. Hudleston saw numbers on Mount Parnassus and the Taygetos ; and Lindermayer says that 

 it breeds on the first-named mountain. I do not find it recorded from Turkey; but it occurs in 

 Southern Germany; and the Ritter von Tschusi-Schmidhofen says (J. f. O. 1873, p. 149) that a 

 flock of from twenty to twenty-five individuals frequented the Kapuziner and Monchs Mountains 

 in Southern Austria, and were often seen on the fortress ; and he adds that in severe winters it is 

 not unfrequently seen in the streets of Salzburg. Sabanaetf, in his MS. notes on the ornithology 

 of the Ural, does not include the present species, but only P. graculus ; but Eversmann states 

 (J. f. O. 1853, p. 290) that P. alpinus is also met with in the more rocky portions of the Ural, 

 though very much rarer than the common Chough. I have no data as to its occurrence in Asia 

 Minor ; but Canon Tristram met with it in Palestine when crossing the Lebanon, and found it 

 in considerable numbers near one of the highest passes south of the Ainat, always, however, in 

 parties of five or six, but distributed along the whole ridge. Hemprich and Ehrenberg record 

 it (I. c.) from Syria; and it has been said to occur in North-east Africa; but it appears that the 

 data as to its occurrence there rest on very slender grounds, as only Hasselquist records it from 

 Egypt, and none of the later collectors have met with it. Von Heuglin observes that, according 

 to Dr. Schimper, it has been met with at Semien, in Abyssinia, but he himself never observed it 

 in any part of North-east Africa ; and Captain Shelley states that he considers its occurrence in 

 Egypt very doubtful. It has not been recorded from North-west Africa; and although Von 

 Heuglin says that Bolle met with it on the Canaries, this is a mistake, as the species referred to 

 by Dr. Bolle is Pyrrhocorax graculus, and not the present species. 



