most like those of the Magpie, from which they differ in their greater size and more ochreoiis colouring. 
Mr. Yarrell describes them as four or five in number, of a yellowisli white, spotted with ash-grey and light 
brown, 1 inch 8 lines long by 1 inch 1 line in breadth. 
The flight of the Chough is very similar to that of the Rook, but is somewhat more rapid ; and it some- 
times flies round in circles, with but little motion of the wings. Its food consists of insects (of various kinds) 
and berries ; and that it, occasionally at least, feeds on small crustaceans is certain, Mr. Thompson having 
found minute Ligia oceanica, Asellt, &c., mixed with vegetable matter, in the stomach of a specimen he 
examined. 
“This species,” says Thompson, “is more generally diffused around the rock-bound shores of Ireland 
than British authors would lead us to believe it is on those of Scotland and England. It may he met 
with in such localities in the north, east, south, and west of the island. The basaltic precipices of the 
north-east coast are admirably adapted for it; and about the promontory of Fairhead it particularly abounds. 
In Dr. J. D. Marshall’s memoir on the statistics and natural history of the Island of Rathlin, lying off the 
north of the county of Antrim, it is remarked : — ‘ This is by far the most numerous species on the island. 
In the month of July I found them every^vhere associated in large flocks, at one place frequenting inland 
situations, and at another congregated on the seashore. They had just collected together their different 
families, now fully fledged, and were picking up their food, consisting chiefly of insects, either on the shore, 
in the crevices of the rocks, or in the pasture-fields. Mr. Selby mentions that the Chough will not alight on 
the turf if it can possibly avoid it, always preferring gravel, stones, or walls. In Rathlin its choice of 
situation seems to be but sparingly exhibited, as I found it frequenting the corn- and pasture-fields in 
even greater numbers than along the shores.’ The Chough is of a restless, active disposition, hopping or 
flying about from place to place ; it is also very shy, and can with difficulty be approached. Some of the 
latest writers on British Ornithology appear to think that the Chough never leaves the vicinity of the sea ; 
and in one work it is stated that the species is ‘ never observed inland,’ although Crow Castle has been 
noticed by Montagu as one of its haunts. This is situated in the beautiful Vale of Llangollen, in North 
Wales, where the Lombardy poplar, spiring above the other rich foliage around the picturesque village of 
the same name, Imparts, in addition to other accompaniments, quite an Italian character to the scene. A 
pair of these birds were, some years since, observed, throughout the breeding-season, about a ruin between 
Newtown-Crommelin and Cushendall, in the county of Antrim, three miles distant from the sea; and at 
Salagh Braes, a semicircular range of basaltic rocks in the same county, nearly twice that distance from the 
coast, the Chough builds.” Mr. R. Davis, jun., of Clonmell, informed Mr. Thompson that “great numbers 
of Choughs breed in the precipices over the lake in the Commeragh Mountains, in the county of Wexford, 
about seven Irish miles from the sea, where they are very rarely molested, on account of building in almost 
inaccessible spots.” 
The voice of the Chough is described as shrill but not disagreeable ; according to Mr. Yarrell, it is something 
like that of the Oyster-catcher ; to others it resembles that of the Jackdaw, from which, however, it is easily 
distinguished. Meyer renders it by the words “ creea, creea, and /fern.” It also emits a chattering sound, 
not unlike that of the Starling. 
Montagu has given an interesting account of a Chough he kept in captivity, which exhibited the 
utmost amount of prying curiosity, evinced a great love of being caressed, and would stand quietly 
by the hour to be smoothed, but resented an affront with violence and effect by both bill and claws, 
and held so fast by the latter that he was with difficulty disengaged. To children he had an utter aversion, 
and would scarcely suffer them to enter the garden. Strangers of any age were challenged vociferously; he 
approached all with daring impudence; and so completely did the sight of strangers change his affections 
for the time, that even his best benefactors could not touch him with impunity in those moments of dis- 
pleasure. 
The sexes are alike in colouring; and the young attain the adult plumage, and the coral-red of the hill 
and legs, by the end of the second year, prior to which they are of a dull dirty yellow. 
The figures are somewhat under the natural size. The plant is the Ophrys aranifem. 
