The Cornifh Chough. Coraeias feu Pyrrhocorax.
Numb. XXIV.
IT weighed thirteen Ounces; the Length from the Point of the Bill
to the End of the Tail feventeen Inches, the Breadth, when the
Wings were extended, was thirty three Inches and a half.
It is like the Jack-D aw but fomewhat bigger; The Bill is long, red,
iharp, and a little bowed or crooked; the upper Mandible being fome-
thing longer than the lower; The Noftrils round; the Tongue broad,
thin, and a little cloven, ihorter than the Bill; the Sides of the Fiffures
of the Palate, and Wind Pipe, and of the Root of the Tongue, are
rough, and as it were hairy; Feathers refledted downwards cover the
Noftrils; thp Feet and Legs are like thofe of the Jack-Daws, but of a
red Colour; The Plumage of the whole Body is all over black.
The Number of prime Feathers in each Wing is twenty, of which
the firft is ihorter than the fecond, that than the third, the third
than the fourth, which is the longeft of all, being by M'eafure ten
Inches and a half; the Wings complicated extend as far as the Tail;
the Tail Feathers are in Number twelve, all equal, or if any Difference
be, the middle a little the longer, as in the reft of this Kind, being by
Meafure five Inches and a quarter.
The Liver was • divided into two Lobes, of which the left was the
lefs; the Spleen long, foft, and round; the Stomach flefhy, and full
of Infedts.
It frequents Rocks; old Caftles, and. Churches by.the Sea-Side, it is
found not only in Cornwal, but alfo in Wales., and all along the Weftern-
Coafts of England, about the Cliffs and Rocks near the Sea: Its Voice
is like that or the common Jack-Daw, but more hoarfe.
It is of great Ufe in Gardens, for to deftroy the Infedts, Worms, & c.