duchy, that the prefix “ Cornish” has been very generally
applied to its name.* Upton, a canon of Salisbury, whose
heraldic work, written about the middle. of the fifteenth
century, was published some two hundred years laterf, speaks
of it as especially found in Cornwall, some of the old families
of which (as indeed of other counties also) bore it in their
coat-armour. Turner, in 1544, though confounding it with
its yellow-billed relation (Pyrrhocorax alpinus) mentioned
Cornwall as the only locality for it in England, as, in 1586,
did Camden (p. 78), who speaks of its dangerous and
thieving propensities—carrying sticks of fire! and stealing
money. On this account Carew in his £ Survey of Cornwall ’
(1602, fol. 86) termed it a “ slaunder ” of that county, to
which it was peculiar—statements repeated by Childrey, in
1661. § Charleton in 1668 (p. 68) speaks to its frequency m
Cornwall, where, he adds, it was also called “ Killegrew ”—
a name that seems to have become extinct. Borlase, in 1758,
who had the advantage of coming after Willughby and Eay,
is less credulous. He naturally makes the most of the bird,
alleging that its imputed faults are really due to the Daw,
and he was the first to refer to Upton, as above quoted. In
Cornwall now it is extremely local and very far from common,
being only met with sparingly in certain spots, chiefly in the
northern coast, yet breeding, or attempting to breed, there
annually. Dr. Bullmore says that some years ago large
numbers used to be caught by baited steel-traps on the
Perran Sands. On the north coast of Devon the Chough is
said still to have a few resorts, and on Lundy Island it is
reported to be yet numerous. In Somerset a few of this
species used to breed regularly near Minehead; but, their
nests being, says Mr. Cecil Smith, one year destroyed by
some masons, the birds never returned to their old quarters,
* This usage is n o t lim ited to En g lish authors. Sibbald, in 1684, n amed th e
b ird th e “ Cornwall Kae ”, an d th a t is a ll he says ab o u t i t ; b u t h e has “ Cornix,
th e Chough” as well (ii. p t. 2, p. 15).
f Nicolai Vpton de studio m ilita ri. Ed. Bisse, Londini : 1651, fol. p. 194.
+ The b ird ’s red b ill possibly suggested th e charge.
§ The E d ito r finds th a t th e passage before qu o ted (page 191) from th is a u th o r
is founded on Carew’s evidence {op. cit. fol. 25 verso).
and the Chough’s last appearance in that county was at
Bagborough, quite away from the sea, where, in April, 1868,
a pair seemed disposed to build in the church-tower, until
they were shot. On the northern shore of the Bristol
Channel, and thence round Wales, a good many spots,
chiefly in the counties of Glamorgan, Pembroke, Anglesey,
Flint and Denbigh, appear to be still inhabited by the Chough
In the county last named, Montagu says that a pair had bred
for many years on the ruins of a castle in the vale of Llangollen.
Further to the north Mr. Brockholes stated, in 1874,
that he had some years before met with a flock in a field at
Leasowe in Cheshire. It was reported to Mr. More as breeding
occasionally in Westmoreland and regularly in Cumberland,
and it was formerly resident in the Isle of Man,
particularly its southern part and the rock called the Calf of
Man, where it used to breed, and may perhaps still do so.*
In Scotland, as Mr. Gray well remarks, the history of this
bird presents some facts worthy of notice. Bishop Leslie in
his treatise f De Origine &c. Scotorum ’ published in 1578
(Ed. 1675, p. 17) stated that it bred in his time between
St. Abb’s Head and Fast Castle, where, according to Dr. G.
Johnston, in 1832, Mr. A. Baird found it so doing (Hist.
Berw. Hat. Club, i. p. 6). Turnbull, in 1867, supposed that
the stock was reduced to a single pair; but Mr. Gray, about
1869, said it was questionable whether one had been seen
there, its only station on the east coast of our island, or at
Troup Head, which was formerly another of its haunts, for
the last ten or fifteen years. Moreover, it appears certain
that not so very long ago this bird inhabited inland stations
from which it has utterly vanished—as the Corra Linn, the
Campsie Fells, the Clova Mountains, Glenlyon and Achmore
—particulars respecting which are given in detail by Mr.
Gray. Islay seems to be the only place in Scotland where it
has preserved its numbers, for from the Solway to Skye, at
* A few instances of Choughs stray in g from th e ir h a u n ts have been recorded.
Thus Mr. Lees mentions (Mag. N. H. i. p. 394) one shot in Worcestershire, Novemb
e r 1826 ; an anonymous w rite r (F ield Nat. i. p. 129) one killed in W iltsh ire ,
August 1832, Mr. A. C. Sm ith an o th e r in th e same county, an d B ly th (Mag. N.
H. ix. p. 636) one th a t occurred in Su rrey . Two more a re noticed by Mr. Morris.
VOL. II. L L