56 CORVIDÆ.
1NSESSORES.
. ; CONIROSTRES.
"CORVIDÆ
T H E CHOUGH.
RED-LEGGED CROW.
Corvus graculus,
Pyrrhocorax „
Fregilus „
Pyrrhocorax „
Red-leggeA Credo, P enn. Brit. p. 294. ’
:•» i> 'ffibN*. Ornith^Bict.
The Chough, Bjtock, B |fe-Biids.yol. i.p^QS.
„ Cornish Chough, Fi.emI BiS. An. p ^ g g f^
»» » StLisy, Brit. Oniith.VdL’i. p/Sd?."
>> - t >, J enyns, Man. Brit.;<Yj©r,t* p. 144.
The fywjgh, Gould, Birds ofEurope, pt. yi.
Pyrrhoc* •axco¥acias, TjMM. Maif! d’Ornith.
Fkfgilds. Generic Characters.—Beak longer than the he|d, strong, arched
and pointed. Nostrils <md, sm a ll'^ c lS y -it fearers.
Wwgs lorig. but rounded in form ; first quill-feather short,-the'fourthI&rttftb4hb
longest m the wing. Tail square,;pr but slightly rqunded.I-.Feet,strong;; toes
four,-threejn front, one behind, tar^as‘longer than the middle toeflFe outer
toe united at its baSe to the middle 'one ; claws strong, and very fitich cijrvVd^
that-of the hind toe much the largest. —
F rom the Starling and Pastor, the birds last described,
the transition to. the true Crows, by the-intervening Chough,
is easynud natural. The Crows generally, as observed by
Mr. Swainsón,. “ exhibit the greatest perfection, and the
.most:varied powers,,with which nature has invested this class
of animals. This superiority consists, not in the extraordinary
developement /of any one particular organ or quality,
but in the union of nearly all .those powers which have been
separately assigned to other familie^/’ . This-perfection is best
exemplified by looking to the economy of the ordinary Crows.
In . every,climate, habitable to man, these birds are found.
They,are as^wfiM: constructed for powerful flight, as for walk-
firm and stately pace on the earth.' They feed
indiscriminately ; on animals «or -on vegetables ; and when
pressed Jby hunger $ refuse nj$& carrion : hence their smell 4®
,remarka^pa^ute./l| They' are bold, but wary ; "HVe in com-
m-Qi^^ôd^^è^and ^pojs^sis great, courage. When domesticated,
tfey fevince a>?ppwer of imitating the human xoice
neaTlÿ^eqnâlvitpjlth%t the* Parrot ; while their cunning,
'pilfering,, and hoarding,-dispositions, «are "all ; symptoms . of
grq^ter^i^eliig^11^ than is found ini îmést 'other families of
birds.”
The .Cornish Chough, for which the genus Fregilus was
establishud;byfiGfirier,^ readily distinguished from fffcè true
Crows- by the peculiar form of fits beak. In thïs country the
Çhouglris nöt a common bird, and is: besides - almost exclur
.sively confinedîto the ..sea coast> whejpfit inhabits-the highest
and most ^inaccessible portions of röcks or cliffs, about which
itswalks securelyfiay means of its strong; legs; toes, and claws.
A bird kept by Colonel?.Montagu some years in his garden,
was never observed tq- walk upon the grass by choice ; and it
required a strong temptation to induce him to step off the
gravé]*-- Montagu’s -account of this .bird forms an interesting
illustration of the general habits of the species :—“ His c.u