THE STARLINGS. 
23 
lat. 58°. It extends throughout the mountainous parts of 
Europe to Central Asia and Persia, as far as North-eastern 
China, while in the Himalayas a slightly larger race occurs. 
Nest. — Generally placed in holes in cliffs or in caves, and 
always difficult to visit. It is made of sticks and stems of 
heather, and is lined with wool and hair. 
Eggs. — Three to six in number, creamy white in colour, with 
grey underlying marks and brown spots, varying considerably 
in the extent and character of the latter. Axis, x'S inch; 
diam., n. 
THE ALPINE CHOUGHS. GENUS PYRRHOCORAX. 
Pyrrhocorax , Vieill., N. Diet., vi., p. 568 (1S16). 
Type, P. pyrrhocorax (Linn.). 
Only one species of the genus is known, differing from the 
true Choughs in its shorter bill, and in having the base of the 
cheeks bare, not feathered as in the genus Gractdus. 
the alpine chough, pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax. 
Corvus pyrrhocorax, Linn., S. N., i., p- 158 (1766). 
Pyrrhocorax alpinus, Dresser, B. Eur., iv., p. 44S> Ph 2 5 I > 
fig. 2 (1875); Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus., 111., p. 148 
(1877); Seeb., Hist. Br. B., i., p. 580, note (1883); 
Saunders, Man., p. 222 (1889). 
Only one specimen has ever been captured in England, as 
recorded and figured by Messrs. Aplin, in their “ Birds of 
Oxfordshire.” It may very probably have been an imported 
individual that had escaped. The range of the Alpine Chough 
outside the British Islands is very similar to that of the 
foregoing species, and it apparently extends as far east. The 
yellow bill will always serve to distinguish it from the 
Eed-billed Chough. 
THE STARLINGS. FAMILY STURNID^E. 
The Starlings, like the Crows, are “ Ambulatores,” or “ Walk- 
ers,” progressing over the ground by a walking step, instead of 
oy hops, like the Thrushes, Sparrows, and most “Passerine 
blr ds. Though possessing a perfection of form little inferior 
