CHOUGH OR RED-LEGGED CROW. 259 
a pet in his garden, and whose account, given in 
his Supplement, will be found interesting, states, 
“ His natural food is evidently the smallest in- 
sects, even the minute species he picks out of the 
crevices of the walls, and searches for them in 
summer with great diligence. The common grass- 
hopper is a great dainty, and the. fern-chaffer is 
another scarce but favourite morsel. Worms are 
wholly rejected ; he sometimes eats barley with 
the pheasants, and never refuses hempseed.” 
When the situation of the nests was ap- 
proached, no great restlessness or anxiety was 
exhibited. They were placed in rents of the 
rocks, in the entrances of the caves, or in over- 
hanging ledges of rock, built much in the same 
manner as those of the true Crows. The eggs, 
from five to seven in number, are of a verditer 
or bluish green, spotted and blotched with blackish 
brown, some specimens nearly resembling those 
of the Jackdaw, and apparently subject to nearly 
the same variation. As previously stated, this 
species inhabits the alpine parts of the European 
Continent, and most probably extends to the 
mountainous portions immediately across the 
frontier, being found in India and Himalaya.* 
This beautiful species is entirely of a deep 
glossy black above, with steel blue and green 
reflections ; plumage on the head and neck rather 
loose and tinted with purple ; underneath, of a 
deep and uniform tint with less lustre. The 
bill is of a brilliant vermilion red, strong, 
* Temm. Sup. i. 70. 
