Red-billed Chough

SCI Name:  Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax
Protonym:  Upupa Pyrrhocorax Syst.Nat.ed.10 p.118
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Corvidae / Pyrrhocorax
Taxonomy Code:  rebcho1
Type Locality:  England.
Author:  Linnaeus
Publish Year:  1758
IUCN Status:  Least Concern

DEFINITIONS

PYRRHOCORAX
(Corvidae; Ϯ Red-billed Chough P. pyrrhocorax) Specific name Upupa pyrrhocorax Linnaeus, 1758; "Pyrrhocorax.  Coracias.  Cornish Chough or Daw.  le Coracias ou Choucas rouge" (Tunstall 1771 (1880 repr.)); "Pyrrhocorax Tunstall, 1771, Orn. Brit., p. 2. Type, by monotypy, "Cornish Chough," i.e., Upupa pyrrhocorax Linnaeus." (Vaurie in Peters 1962, XV, 258).   
Synon. Coracia, Cornix, Cravus, Fregilus, Graculus, Hellmayria, Monedula.
● (artefact) ex “Sicrin” of Levaillant 1801, pl. 82.

pyrrhocorax
L. pyrrhocorax, pyrrhocoracis  chough  < Gr. πυρρος purrhos  flame-coloured, red  < πυρ pur, πυρος puros  fire; κοραξ korax, κορακος korakos  raven  < κρωζω krōzō  to croak; "58. UPUPA.  ...  Pyrrhocorax.  4. U. atra, rostro pedibusque rubris.  Monedula Pyrrhocorax. Hasselq. iter. 238.  Coracias s. Pyrrhocorax. Aldr. orn. l. 12. c. 8. Will. orn. 86. l. 19. Raj. av. 40. n. 6. Alb. av. 2. p. 23. t. 24.  Habitat in Angliæ, Ægypti maritimis." (Linnaeus 1758); “There has been some doubt about the correct names for the Cornish and Alpine Choughs. In the 10^th edition of Linnaeus, Upupa pyrrhocorax is described, and although references covering both the Cornish and Alpine Choughs are given, the description “rostro pedibusque rubris” can only refer to the Cornish bird. In 1766, in the 12^th edition, Linnaeus seems to have altogether overlooked the Cornish Chough, as the descriptions of Corvus pyrrhocorax and C. graculus both seem to refer to the Alpine Chough, and as the first of these names is preoccupied by his description of the Cornish Chough in the 1758 edition, we must accept Corvus graculus for the Alpine Chough and C. pyrrhocorax for the Cornish Chough as the correct names” (BOU 1915) (Pyrrhocorax).
● Cabanis 1853, Mus. Heineanum, I, p. 228, erroneously lists "Fregilus pyrrhocorax Sws. Nat. Hist. Birds II. p. 268", as a synonym of Corcorax melanorhamphus; "SUBFAM. FRIGILINÆ.*  ...  F. pyrrhocorax. Pl. Enl. 531.  erythropus. Pl. Enl. 255.   *This subfamily at present contains but two European birds, which appear to be types of as many genera; the above characters are more strictly applicable to the first." (Swainson 1837).  Plate 531 of the Planches enluminées is of the "Choucas des Alpes," the Alpine Chough Pyrrhocorax graculus.

PYRRHOCORAX
(Corvidae; Ϯ Red-billed Chough P. pyrrhocorax) Specific name Upupa pyrrhocorax Linnaeus, 1758; "Pyrrhocorax.  Coracias.  Cornish Chough or Daw.  le Coracias ou Choucas rouge" (Tunstall 1771 (1880 repr.)); "Pyrrhocorax Tunstall, 1771, Orn. Brit., p. 2. Type, by monotypy, "Cornish Chough," i.e., Upupa pyrrhocorax Linnaeus." (Vaurie in Peters 1962, XV, 258).   
Synon. Coracia, Cornix, Cravus, Fregilus, Graculus, Hellmayria, Monedula.
● (artefact) ex “Sicrin” of Levaillant 1801, pl. 82.

pyrrhocorax
L. pyrrhocorax, pyrrhocoracis  chough  < Gr. πυρρος purrhos  flame-coloured, red  < πυρ pur, πυρος puros  fire; κοραξ korax, κορακος korakos  raven  < κρωζω krōzō  to croak; "58. UPUPA.  ...  Pyrrhocorax.  4. U. atra, rostro pedibusque rubris.  Monedula Pyrrhocorax. Hasselq. iter. 238.  Coracias s. Pyrrhocorax. Aldr. orn. l. 12. c. 8. Will. orn. 86. l. 19. Raj. av. 40. n. 6. Alb. av. 2. p. 23. t. 24.  Habitat in Angliæ, Ægypti maritimis." (Linnaeus 1758); “There has been some doubt about the correct names for the Cornish and Alpine Choughs. In the 10^th edition of Linnaeus, Upupa pyrrhocorax is described, and although references covering both the Cornish and Alpine Choughs are given, the description “rostro pedibusque rubris” can only refer to the Cornish bird. In 1766, in the 12^th edition, Linnaeus seems to have altogether overlooked the Cornish Chough, as the descriptions of Corvus pyrrhocorax and C. graculus both seem to refer to the Alpine Chough, and as the first of these names is preoccupied by his description of the Cornish Chough in the 1758 edition, we must accept Corvus graculus for the Alpine Chough and C. pyrrhocorax for the Cornish Chough as the correct names” (BOU 1915) (Pyrrhocorax).
● Cabanis 1853, Mus. Heineanum, I, p. 228, erroneously lists "Fregilus pyrrhocorax Sws. Nat. Hist. Birds II. p. 268", as a synonym of Corcorax melanorhamphus; "SUBFAM. FRIGILINÆ.*  ...  F. pyrrhocorax. Pl. Enl. 531.  erythropus. Pl. Enl. 255.   *This subfamily at present contains but two European birds, which appear to be types of as many genera; the above characters are more strictly applicable to the first." (Swainson 1837).  Plate 531 of the Planches enluminées is of the "Choucas des Alpes," the Alpine Chough Pyrrhocorax graculus.

SUBSPECIES

Red-billed Chough (Red-billed)
SCI Name: Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax [pyrrhocorax Group]
PYRRHOCORAX
(Corvidae; Ϯ Red-billed Chough P. pyrrhocorax) Specific name Upupa pyrrhocorax Linnaeus, 1758; "Pyrrhocorax.  Coracias.  Cornish Chough or Daw.  le Coracias ou Choucas rouge" (Tunstall 1771 (1880 repr.)); "Pyrrhocorax Tunstall, 1771, Orn. Brit., p. 2. Type, by monotypy, "Cornish Chough," i.e., Upupa pyrrhocorax Linnaeus." (Vaurie in Peters 1962, XV, 258).   
Synon. Coracia, Cornix, Cravus, Fregilus, Graculus, Hellmayria, Monedula.
● (artefact) ex “Sicrin” of Levaillant 1801, pl. 82.

Red-billed Chough (Ethiopian)
SCI Name: Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax baileyi
baileyi
● Dr Alfred Marshall Bailey (1894-1978) US ornithologist, field-worker, collector, Director of Chicago Academy of Sciences 1927-1936, Director of Denver Mus. of Natural History 1936-1969 (syn. Eremophila alpestris enertera, subsp. Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax, Xenospiza).
● W. T. Bailey (fl. 1887) Australian collector in Queensland (subsp. Dicrurus bracteatus, subsp. Podargus papuensis).
● Lt.-Col. Frederick Marshman Bailey (1882-1967) British Army, intelligence officer/ explorer in Tibet, China and Tashkent, Political Officer in Sikkim 1921-1928 (syn. Yuhina flavicollis rouxi).