The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma/Birds/Order Passeres/Family Corvidæ/Genus Pyrrhocorax

by Edward Charles Stuart Baker

Genus PYRRHOCORAX Vieill., 1816.

The genus Pyrrhocorax contains the Choughs, of which there are two species—P. pyrrhocorax, the Red-billed Chough, and P. graculus, the Yellow-billed Chough, which occur unchanged over a great area of three continents. Both are found within Indian limits.

They resemble the true Crows in colour, but differ from them all in having the bill and feet brilliantly coloured.

The bill is long and slender and gently curved throughout its length; the narial plumes are very short and dense, The tarsus is quite smooth, differing markedly from the true Crows in this respect.

(48) Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax.

The Bed-billed Chough.

Upupa pyrrhocorax Linn., Syst. Nat., ed. x, p. 118 (1758) (England).

Gruculus ercinita. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 43.

Vernacular names. Tsagh (Kandahar).

Description. The whole plumage glossy black.

Colours of soft parts. Iris brown; legs and feet vermilion-red, claws black; bill vermilion-red.

Measurements. Total length about 450 mm.; wing 270 to 315 mm; tail 150 to 170 mm.; culmen 45 to 60 mm.; tarsus 45 to 53 mm.

The Indian bird seems to average much larger than the English though not larger than the Continental bird.

Distribution. Northern Africa, Europe and N. Asia. In India it is found throughout the Himalayas to Eastern Tibet.

Fig. 17.—Head of P. pyrrhocorax.

Fig. 18.—Foot of P. pyrrhocorax.

Nidification. The Red-billed Chough breeds freely in Tibet, Ladakh and Northern Kashmir, breeding generally in cliffs, but, in Tibet, frequently in the Tibetan houses and buildings whether occupied or not. They are early breeders, laying in the end of March and April and often having a second brood. The eggs are like those of the English bird, but much duller and more brownish in tint and they average much bigger, 41.7 X 28.4 mm. against 40.7 x 27.9 mm. Whymper took its eggs at the end of April in Garhwal at 9,000 and 12,400 feet. The nests were of sticks with wool lining, placed in clefts of rocks.

Habits. The Red-billed Chough is found in summer up to 16,000 feet and over, descending in winter to 5,000 feet or even lower. It is a gregarious sociable bird feeding together on the ground much like Rooks. They are noisy birds and haunt human habitations and camps as well as wilder tracts.

(49) Pyrrhocorax graculus.

The Yellow-billed Chough.

Corvus graculus Linn., Syst. Nat., ed. xii, p. 158 (1766) (Swiss Alps).

Pyrrhocorax alpinus. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 44.

Fig. 19.—Head of P. graculus.

Vernacular names. None recorded.

Description. The whole plumage black with a slight gloss, more developed on wings and tail.

Colours of soft parts. Iris brown to red-brown; bill yellow; feet vermilion, the claws horny brown or black.

Measurements. Total length about 420 mm.; wing 262 to 287 mm.; tail about 180 mm.; culmen 25 to 30 mm.; tarsus 45 to 48 mm.

Distribution. South Europe and Central Asia. In India throughout the Himalayas from Kohat to Central Tibet and South-East Tibet.

Nidification. Eggs have been taken in the Liddar Valley and in S.E. Tibet in April and May from nests placed in steep rocky cliffs, either in holes or in crevices in rocks. As a rule the breeding places are almost or quite inaccessible. The eggs differ in no way from those of the European bird. The ground-colour is a very pale yellowish grey, rarely with a cream tint, and the spots are of light brown and neutral tint, rather sparse as a rule but more numerous at the larger end.

Habits. In summer it is found between 10,000 and 15,000 feet, coming down to 5,000 feet in winter. According to Stoliczka this species is very social and frequently visits the camp of the traveller in Spiti and Ladakh, as it does also in Tibet. It is as familiar and noisy in the neighbourhood of villages and camping-grounds as the common House-Crow is in India. In the breeding season it to some extent deserts human habitations for the wilder cliffs.