THE CHOUGH. 141 
In colouring the Chough is shining black, glossed with blue and purple; the 
wings slightly greenish; the bill and feet are orange-vermilion; iris brown. The 
female is a little smaller than the male. Young birds have the bill and feet dull 
orange. 
The haunts of the Chough are chiefly sea-side cliffs and rugged mountain 
sides, and Dixon mentions that he observed a colony in Algeria “‘in a low ridge 
of rocks, on the side of one of the barren stony valleys near the snow-capped 
summit” of Djebel Mahmel. It is gregarious in its habits and appears to pair 
for life. Its flight is somewhat characteristic; consisting largely, as Howard 
Saunders says, of ‘‘a series of curves in the air, alternately rising with a scream, 
and then suddenly dropping with almost closed wings”; its red bill is distin- 
guishable at a considerable distance: on the earth it both walks and runs. 
Seebohm renders the cry of the Chough as Ahé’-0, khéé’-0; but Howard 
Saunders says—‘‘ The usual cry is a clear metallic ‘ Kling,’ but in autumn I have 
heard flocks uttering ‘chough-chough’ very plainly.” The food consists of insects 
and their larvee, worms, probably mollusca, berries and grain. 
The nest is usually situated in some wholly inaccessible hole or crevice, often 
at some distance from the opening, in the face of an overhanging cliff or near the 
roof of a cave; but sometimes in old castles, church-towers, or disused lime-kilns ; 
it is constructed of dry plant-stems, frequently of heather, and lined with dead 
grass, rootlets, wool, and hair, or with some of these materials only. The eggs, 
three to six in number, vary from dull creamy to greenish-white in ground-colour, 
and are more or less boldly spotted and streaked with various shades of brown 
and grey, some specimens having the markings pretty evenly distributed over the 
entire service, whilst others have them chiefly massed towards the larger extremity. 
Nidification generally commences late in April or early in May. 
Many local names have been given to this bird, amongst which those of 
Cornish Crow and Red-legged Crow are somewhat freely used; one of the names 
Hermit Crow is hardly applicable to a bird which lives and breeds in colonies. 
Seebohm says that the ‘“‘Chough, like the Rook, leaves its roosting-place early 
in the morning, and repairs to the neighbouring pastures in search of food, some- 
times even being seen to follow the plough to pick up worms and grubs. It is 
always a restless and a wary bird, never remaining long in one spot, but shifting 
its ground in short uncertain flights.” 
It may be questioned whether this species ever attains a great age in confine- 
ment, but it is very difficult to form any definite opinion, because of the apparent 
carelessness with which exhibitors note the ages of birds: thus a Chough for many 
years has taken a first prize at the Crystal Palace which seems to have been five 
Vor. II. Z 
