CHOUGH. 577 



timej and to have now completely deserted its inland haunts, being only 

 found on the ocean cliffs. It formerly haunted Burrow Head, the Mull of 

 Galloway, Ti'oup Head, and St. Abb's Head in considerable numbers ; but 

 now in some localities only a few pairs remain, whilst in others the bird 

 has vanished altogether. The great stronghold of the Chough is in the 

 island of Islay. On the west coast of Skye (which locality now appears 

 to be its northern limit in our islands), in Wigtownshire, and Kircud- 

 brightshire a few pairs are still known to breed. Although found in the 

 Long Island in Macgillivray's day, it is now absent, as also fi-om Coll, 

 Rum, and Canna and other stations on the Western Islands. In Ireland 

 its numbers have also decreased. It appears to have deserted all its 

 inland haunts, and only a few chosen places on the coast and the adjacent 

 islands are now frequented by it ; but it is still common on the coasts of 

 county Kerry, and I specially remember its abundance on the magnificent 

 cliffs at Sybil Head, west of Dingle. 



The Chough is essentially a bird of the rocks, and is in no part of its 

 range a migratory species. In the British Islands it finds suitable haunts 

 on the coast ; but on the continent it breeds almost exclusively on the 

 mountains. It is found in the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Apennines, and 

 the mountains of Sicily and Sardinia, the Carpathians, the Parnassus, the 

 Caucasus, and the Urals, and on many of the intervening lesser ranges of 

 hills. In the Atlas and the Aures, Abyssinia, the rocky mountains of 

 Arabia Petrtea, and the hills of Persia, the mountain districts of Southern 

 Siberia, Turkestan, the tlimalayas, Mongolia, Tibet, and North-east China 

 the Chough also breeds. It appears to be a maritime bird only on the 

 Atlantic coast. South of the British Islands Saunders records it from 

 Belle Isle, on the coast of Brittany. It also breeds in Palma, one of the 

 Canaries (exceeding 7000 feet above the level of the sea) ; but here it is 

 said to nest in the clefts of the sides of the crater and not on the coast. 

 It is a mistake to suppose that Belle Isle is the o?j^y maritime resort of the 

 Chough outside of the British Islands. It is certainly a maritime bird in 

 South-west Portugal. Dresser mistranslates the account of this colony 

 given by Dr. E. Bey (Journ. f. Orn. 1872, p. 145)*. Accidental wanderers 

 are occasionally caught in other parts of Europe. The Chough is a 

 southern bird ; and there is no evidence whatever of its being found north 

 of lat. 58° except in Scotland. The stories of its having been seen in 

 the Archangel go\'ernment are no doubt myths. Sabanaeff distinctly 

 states that in the Ural Mountains the northern limit of its range is 



* Dresser says : — Dr. Key writes, " At tlie end of the valley I found the nests, but 

 in a place where I could not potsibly reach them." The correct translation has an 

 entirely different m(.'aning, and ia : — " Outside the valley I found the nest-colony, but 

 unfortunately in an absolutely inaccessible part of the coast." 



VOL. I. 3p 



