Množina: choughs
ETYM Old Eng. choughe, kowe (and cf. Old Eng. ca), from AS. ceó; cf. also Dutch kauw, Old High Germ. châha; perh. akin to Eng. caw. Related to Caddow.
A European corvine bird of small or medium size with red legs and glossy black plumage.
Bird Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax of the crow family, about 38 cm/15 in long, black-feathered, and with red bill and legs. It lives on sea cliffs and mountains from Europe to E Asia, but is now rare.
The alpine chough Pyrrhocorax graculus is similar, but has a yellow bill and is found up to the snowline in mountains from the Pyrenees to Central Asia.