CHOUGH. 



89 



by accident one of them was killed, and the other continued to haunt 

 the same place for two or three years, without finding another mate. 



The nest is composed of sticks, and lined with a great quantity of 

 wool and hair. The eggs are generally five in number, of a dull white, 

 sprinkled with light-brown and ash-coloured spots, most at the larger 

 end ; their weight about three drams and a half. 



The note of this bird is somewhat like that of the common jackdaw, 

 but more shrill. Its food is grain and insects, but in confinement it 

 will feed greedily on flesh, becomes extremely tame and docile, active 

 and crafty, will hide part of its food, and not unfrequently things of 

 value. We are told that houses have been set on fire by its carrying 

 away lighted sticks in its bill. Some are said to acquire black legs in 

 autumn ; this, however, does not appear to be the case in England, 

 where they remain all the year and rarely shift their quarters ; in other 

 parts they would seem to be migratory, as it has been observed in 

 Egypt to attend the inundation of the Nile in the months of Septem- 

 ber and October. It is found upon the Alps; in the southern latitudes 

 of Siberia, about Mount Caucasus ; and is said to be met with in the 

 mountains of Persia, where the bill and legs are described to be black ; 

 a circumstance that gives rise to some doubt as to the identity of the 

 bird, since the red bill and legs attained the first year, are with us 

 orange, from the nest. These birds are extremely docile, but very 

 mischievous; their curiosity is beyond bounds, never failing to examine 

 any thing that is new to them. It is the nature of this bird to affect 

 elevated situations, and even when tamed they never lose an opportu- 

 nity of attaining the highest elevation within their reach. One in 

 Colonel Montagu's possession would stand quietly for hours to be 

 soothed and caressed, but would resent an affront both with bill and 

 claws. 



Small insects are evidently the natural food of this bird ; the com- 

 mon grass-hopper is a great dainty, the fern-chaffer {Anomala Koppe 

 horticola,) is a favorite morsel, and is swallowed whole, but if the 

 great chaffer (Melolontlici) be given to him, he places it under his foot, 

 pulls it to pieces and eats it piece-meal. Worms he rejects, but flesh 

 and bread he will eat greedily, and sometimes barley with the pheasants 

 and other granivorous birds ; hempseed he never refuses. 



He eats little at a time, and seems to regurgitate like ruminating 

 quadrupeds. Whether this is a part of the last meal, in a reservoir 

 under the tongue, as in the rook, or proceeds from the craw, we have 

 not at present the means to determine ; but the act of regurgitation 

 is marked by reiterated motions of the head, as if something stuck in 



