AVIS-IBIS

Birds of Indian Subcontinent

49. Pyrrhocorax graeulus

(49) Pyrrhocorax graculus Linn.
THE YELLOW-BILLED Chough.
Pyrrhocorax graculus, Fauna B. I., Birds, 2nd ed. vol. i, p. 70.
The Indian bird has been separated as P. forsythi by Stoliczka, and the separation is accepted by some systematists. The following notes will, therefore, only be such as refer to that form.
It breeds undoubtedly all through the Himalayas, from Kohat to Central and South-East Tibet and Sikkim. It is a bird of lofty elevations between 10,000 and 15,000 feet and Ward obtained their eggs from the Liddar Valley and from Leh. In Tibet it undoubtedly must breed, for it was seen by Ludlow at Yatung and also by the Everest Expedition. In Ladak and Sikkim they were seen by Meinertzhagen though in smaller numbers than the preceding bird. In Chitral Fulton found them very common up to 16,000 feet.
Notes on the nidification are very scarce and I can find none beyond the two records of two nests taken by Ward, one of which was placed in the roof of a house and one taken from a great colony breeding in holes in a high cliff in the Liddar Valley on the 22nd of May. In the latter instance “the one nest taken was all that could begot at.”
The few eggs I have seen of this race, including some from Naryn in Turkestan, could not be distinguished from those of the Red-billed Chough, though the ground-colour is still paler on an average, and they are somewhat smaller.
Twenty-three eggs average 39.0 x 28.5 mm. : maxima 43.3 x 27.0 and 37.1 x 27.7 mm. ; minima 35.8 x 26.9 and 41.0 x 25.4 mm.
The breeding season is April and May in Turkestan and May and June in Kashmir.

BookTitle: 
The Nidification Of Birds Of The Indian Empire
Reference: 
Baker, Edward Charles Stuart. The nidification of birds of the Indian Empire. Vol. 1. 1932.
Title in Book: 
49. Pyrrhocorax graeulus
Spp Author: 
Linn.
Book Author: 
Edward Charles Stuart Baker
CatNo: 
49
Year: 
1932
Page No: 
56
Common name: 
Yellow-billed Chough
M_ID: 
20502
M_CN: 
Alpine Chough
M_SN: 
Pyrrhocorax graculus
Volume: 
Vol. 1
id: 
13276

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