The Chough is one of a little 
group of birds called the Scar- 
let Crows, on account of the 
red beak and legs possessed by 
some of them. 
The Chough is a coast bird, 
loving rocks and stones, and 
having a great dislike to grass 
or hedges of every kind. When 
in search of food it will venture 
some little distance inland, and 
has been observed in the act of 
following the ploughman, after 
the manner of the rook, busily 
engaged in picking up the 
grubs that are unearthed. Some- 
times it will feed upon berries 
and grain, but evidently prefers 
animal food, pecking its prey 
out of the crevices among the 
rocks with great rapidity and 
certainty of aim, its long and 
curved beak aiding it in draw- 
ing the concealed insects out of 
their hiding-places. Cornwall is 
the chief resting-place of the 
Chough, but it is also found 
in many other parts of England 
and the British Isles. 
It can be easily tamed if 
taken when young, and is when 
domesticated as amusing a bird 
the rest of its tribe. In 
CHOUGH. — Cordcia Grazula. 
as 
the garden it is rather useful, as it devours numbers of insects, continually 
searching for them in the crevices of walls and under the bark of trees. 
It seems to reject worms, but is very fond of the mischievous cockchaffers, 
eating the small summer chaffer whole, but pulling the common cockchaffer to 
pieces before eating it. 
As is the case with nearly all coast birds, the Chough builds its nest at no 
great distance from the sea, generally choosing some convenient crevice in a cliff 
or an old ruin near the sea-shore. 
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