THE CHOUGH. 
301 
had shot these birds in the mountains of Mourne, which are re- 
gularly frequented by them : — they build in the inland cliffs. 
For some years previously, he had annually taken the young 
from two or three nests, with the intention of rearing them, but 
was unsuccessful. 
This intelligent gamekeeper assured me, that once among these 
mountains, he came upon seven choughs attendant on a poor sheep, 
which was in a particularly weak state when lambing. About 
half of the young animal was protruded, and had been consumed 
by these birds, three of which were at the time busily engaged 
preying upon it.* He had not a gun with him, but was so wroth 
at witnessing this act of the chough, that when armed, in the 
latter part of the day, he sacrificed three of these birds ; all which 
came within his range. He believes that choughs would even 
destroy a weak animal. They are seen by him, commonly fre- 
quenting the entrances to foxes' earths, for the purpose, he believes, 
of feeding on “ sheep-shanks '' and other similar rejectamenta. As 
the chough is not considered a carnivorous bird, I was particular 
in questioning my informant as to the species, and his accuracy is 
unquestionable. Montagu mentions that his tame bird was fed 
partly on raw and boiled flesh-meat. Their liveliness, in addition 
to their beauty, renders them attractive in captivity. In the 
Zoological Garden, Regent's Park, they may generally be seen, 
most industriously occupied, digging with their bills into the 
chinks of the wall, or floor of their inclosure. 
Mr. R. Davis, jun., of Clonmel, informs me, that the chough 
has been shot within a mile of that town. He has seen the 
species at Helvick Head, county of Waterford, and in great numbers 
at Loop Head, on the coast of Clare ; — about the marine cliffs 
generally of the latter county, it is common. Mr. Davis writes : — 
“ Although Mr. Selby says f it has been remarked that the chough 
will not alight on the turf if it can possibly avoid it, always pre- 
ferring gravel, stones, or walls,' I have seen hundreds freely alight 
* Mr. Hogg contributes to Macgillivray’s British Birds, (vol. i.) a similar account 
of the carrion-crow, with horrible details of what, to human sympathy, would seem 
its cold-blooded cruelty to sheep, when in the act of parturition. 
