ALPINE CHOUGH. 155 



blackish, the old birds having those parts covered with 

 yellow or bright red. 



From a letter with which I have been favoured by- 

 Mr. Tuck, of Wallington, Herts., containing some val- 

 uable remarks about the birds which he observed near 

 Pau, in the south-west of France, I extract the following: 

 — "The Alpine Chough is often seen among the moun- 

 tains, sometimes in large flocks of nearly two hundred, 

 as they were at the end of March in the Vallee d' 

 Ossau. They and the Red-legged Crow seem about 

 equally distributed there." 



This bird occurs frequently in Greece. The Count 

 Von der Miihle, in his "Beitraege zur Ornithologie 

 Griechenlands," page 54, says: — "The Alpine Chough 

 is found in all the mountain range of Greece, as well 

 in Lacedemonia as in Rumelia; it is also found in 

 Illyria, where it abounds in the volcanic rocky caverns 

 formed on the level land. These caverns became the 

 dwelling-place of incredible flocks of Alpine Choughs, 

 Pigeons, ( Columba lima,) and Jackdaws. I generally 

 visited one of these caverns every morning, and when 

 I looked into it there arose such a noise from the 

 mingled voices of its various inhabitants, that I was 

 positively deafened by it. These caverns are filled with 

 copsewood. If a stone were thrown in, the birds would 

 rise by degrees and fly quickly away. One day a 

 friend and I threw down a piece of rock, and no words 

 can describe the astounding cries which rent the air." 



Latham gave the following concise description of this 

 bird: — "Size of a Jackdaw. Bill rather more elongated 

 and yellow. Plumage wholly black; legs and claws 

 black or yellow. Inhabits the Alps; has a sharp and 

 disagreeable voice. Lives upon grain, and does much 

 damage to the harvest. Flesh pretty good eating." 



