580 BRITISH BIRDS. 



The Chough is seen in pairs at all seasons of the year ; and there can 

 be little doubt that it is mated to its partner for life. Its breeding- 

 season in our islands commences early in May. The nesting-site is often 

 in the most inaccessible part of the cliff, where the rocks overhang and 

 drop down almost smooth as a wall to the ocean below. Macgillivi'ay and 

 Newton, however, state that the bird will make its nest in buildings ; and 

 it is very possible that, as with the Jackdaw, these situations were a 

 favourite choice in the legendary days when the bird was a resident of the 

 inland districts. The nest is usually placed in some crevice or hole in a 

 rock, sometimes at a considerable distance from the opening, where it 

 is absolutely impossible to obtain the eggs. It is made of sticks and 

 heather-stems, and lined with dry grass, roots, and wool, sometimes with 

 hair. It is often a large structure, but, as is usual with birds nesting in 

 holes, seldom very compactly made. The eggs of the Chough are from 

 three to six in number. They range from creamy white to greenish 

 white in ground-colour, spotted with brown of various shades, and dashed 

 with underlying markings of purplish grey ; they vary considerably as to 

 the amount of markings upon them. In some eggs the spots are large and 

 bold, scattered irregularly over the surface ; in others they are finer and 

 more evenly dispersed, or are collected together in a mass at the larger 

 end, many of them being confluent. One egg in my collection (from 

 Rathlin Island) has almost the whole of the colouring-matter distributed in 

 small underlying markings ; and the entire egg is suffused with a delicate 

 rosy tinge. Some specimens have a few dark streaks upon them. They 

 measure from 1'65 to r4 inch in length, and from 1"15 to 1 inch in 

 breadth. That the Chough will sometimes breed in confinement is proved 

 by an interesting note communicated to the ' Zoologist' (1882, p. 431) by 

 Miss Nevill. 



The Chough has the entire plumage rich black, beautifully glossed, 

 especially on the upper parts, with steel-blue ; the wings and tail, in addi- 

 tion to the steel-blue gloss, also display violet and purple reflections. The 

 beak, which is long and curved, and the legs and feet are vermilion-red ; 

 claws black ; irides brown. The female does not differ from the male in 

 colour, but may do so a little in size, being a trifle smaller. Young birds 

 resemble the adults, but are duller, and the plumage exhibits but little 

 gloss. The beak and legs when the bird is very young are, according to 

 Mr. Lumsden, quoted by Dresser, brownish orange, gradually becoming 

 reddish orange as the bird gets older, then finally red. 



One specimen of the Alpine Chough (P. aljnnus) has been twice recorded 

 in the pages of +he ' Zoologist ' (1881, pp. 422, 471, and 1882, p. 431) . It 

 appears to have been shot by a keeper at Broughton Castle, Banbury, 

 Oxfordshire, on the 8th of April 1881. Although the appearance of the 

 bird bore no evidence of its ever having been kept in confinement, still 



