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 (JMelolonthd) 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 
