Editing Alpine chough (section)

==Taxonomy==
[[File:ChoughsDiff.svg|thumb|left|upright|alt= Diagrams of the two chough species perched and in flight|The [[red-billed chough]] (P. pyrrhocorax — left) has deeper wing "fingers" and tail wedge in flight than the Alpine (on right), and its wings extend to or beyond the tail tip when standing.]]
[[File:Chocard à bec jaune (Pyrrhocorax graculus) - les Arcs 2018.jpg|thumb|alt= Alpine chough in flight|In-flight in northern Alps, [[France]]]]
The Alpine chough was first described as ''Corvus graculus'' by [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]] in the ''[[Systema Naturae]]'' in 1766.<ref>{{cite book | last=Linnaeus | first= C. | author-link = Carl Linnaeus | title=Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Tomus I. Editio duodecima | publisher=Holmiae. (Laurentii Salvii) | year=1766| page = 158|language=la}}</ref> It was moved to its current genus, ''Pyrrhocorax'', by English [[ornithology|ornithologist]] [[Marmaduke Tunstall]] in his 1771 ''Ornithologia Britannica'',<ref>{{cite book | last=Tunstall | first=M. | author-link= Marmaduke Tunstall | title= Ornithologia Britannica: seu Avium omnium Britannicarum tam terrestrium, quam aquaticarum catalogus, sermone Latino, Anglico et Gallico redditus | publisher=London, J. Dixwell | year=1771| page = 2|language=la}}</ref> along with the only other member of the genus, the [[red-billed chough]], ''P.&nbsp;pyrrhocorax''.<ref name=Madge94>{{cite book | last = Madge | first = S. | author-link = Steve Madge |author2=Burn, Hilary |title = Crows and jays: a guide to the crows, jays and magpies of the world | year = 1994 | publisher = [[A & C Black]] | pages = 132–133 | isbn = 978-0-7136-3999-5}}</ref> The closest relatives of the choughs were formerly thought to be the typical [[crow]]s, ''Corvus'', especially the jackdaws in the subgenus ''[[Coloeus]]'',<ref name= goodwin>{{cite book | last = Goodwin | first = Derek |author2=Gillmor, Robert | title = Crows of the world | year =1976 | publisher = London: British Museum (Natural History)| isbn = 978-0-565-00771-3 |pages = 151–158}}</ref> but [[DNA]] and [[cytochrome&nbsp;b]] analysis shows that the genus ''Pyrrhocorax'', along with the [[ratchet-tailed treepie]] (genus ''Temnurus''), diverged early from the rest of the [[Corvidae]].<ref name= Ericson>{{cite journal | last= Ericson | first = Per G. P. |author2=Jansén, Anna-Lee|author3= Johansson, Ulf S.|author4= Ekman, Jan| year=2005 | title= Inter-generic relationships of the crows, jays, magpies and allied groups (Aves: Corvidae) based on nucleotide sequence data | journal= Journal of Avian Biology | volume= 36 | issue = 3| pages= 222–234 | url =http://nrm.se/download/18.4e1d3ca810c24ddc70380001145/Corvidae%5B1%5D.pdf | doi =10.1111/j.0908-8857.2001.03409.x | citeseerx = 10.1.1.493.5531 }}</ref>

The genus name is derived from [[Greek language|Greek]] {{Lang|el|πύρρος (purrhos)|italic=yes}}, "flame-coloured", and {{Lang|el|κόραξ (korax)|italic=yes}}, "raven".<ref name=BTO>{{cite web|title=Chough ''Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax'' [Linnaeus, 1758] |work=BTOWeb BirdFacts |url=http://blx1.bto.org/birdfacts/results/bob15590.htm |publisher=British Trust for Ornithology |access-date=6 February 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160411234411/http://blx1.bto.org/birdfacts/results/bob15590.htm |archive-date=11 April 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> The species epithet ''graculus'' is [[Latin]] for a jackdaw.<ref name= woodhouse>{{cite book | last = Woodhouse | first = Sidney Chawner | title = The Englishman's pocket Latin-English and English-Latin dictionary | year = 1982 | publisher = Taylor & Francis | isbn = 978-0-7100-9267-0 | page = [https://archive.org/details/englishmanspocke0000wood/page/75 75] | url = https://archive.org/details/englishmanspocke0000wood/page/75 }}</ref> The current binomial name of the Alpine chough was formerly sometimes applied to the red-billed chough.<ref>{{cite book | last = Lilford | author-link = Thomas Powys, 4th Baron Lilford| first = Thomas Littleton Powys |author2= Salvin, Osbert|author3= Newton, Alfred|author4= Thorburn, Archibald|author4-link= Archibald Thorburn |author5=Keulemans, Gerrard John | title = Coloured figures of the birds of the British islands | year = 1897 | publisher = R. H. Porter | volume=2|page=56}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Temminck | author-link = Coenraad Jacob Temminck | first = Coenraad Jacob | title = Manuel d'ornithologie; Tableau systématique des oiseaux qui se trouvent en Europe | url = https://archive.org/details/manueldornithol00natugoog | year = 1815–40 | publisher = Paris: Sepps & Dufour |page = 122 }}</ref> The English word "chough" was originally an alternative [[onomatopoeia|onomatopoeic]] name for the [[jackdaw]], ''Corvus monedula'', based on its call. The red-billed chough, formerly particularly common in [[Cornwall]] and known initially as the "Cornish chough", eventually became just "chough", the name transferring from one genus to another.<ref name= Cocker >{{cite book | last = Cocker | first = Mark | author-link = Mark Cocker|author2=Mabey, Richard |author-link2=Richard Mabey  |title = Birds Britannica | year = 2005 |location=London | publisher = Chatto & Windus | isbn = 978-0-7011-6907-7|pages=406–408}}</ref>

The Alpine chough has two extant subspecies.
* ''P. g. graculus'', the [[Subspecies#Nomenclature|nominate subspecies]] in Europe, north Africa, Turkey, the Caucasus and northern Iran.<ref name= Madge94/>
* ''P. g. digitatus'', described by the German naturalists [[Wilhelm Hemprich]] and [[Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg]] as ''P.&nbsp;alpinus'' var. ''digitatus'' in 1833,<ref name= dickinson>{{cite journal | last= Dickinson | first= E C |author2= Dekker, R. W. R. J.|author3= Eck, S.|author4= Somadikarta S. | year=2004 | title=Systematic notes on Asian birds. 45. Types of the Corvidae | journal= Leiden Zoologische Verhandelingen | volume= 350 | page= 121 | url =http://www.repository.naturalis.nl/document/43939&lt;/a&gt;}}</ref> is larger and has stronger feet than the nominate race.<ref name= Madge94/> It breeds in the rest of the depicted Asian range, mainly in the Himalayas.<ref name=BWP/>
[[Moravia]]n [[Paleontology|palaeontologist]] [[Ferdinand Stoliczka]] separated the Himalayan population as a third subspecies, ''P.&nbsp;g.&nbsp;forsythi'',<ref name= stoliczka >{{cite journal | last= Stoliczka | first= Ferdinand | year=1874 | title = Letter to the Editor, 10 September 1873, Camp Leh| journal = Stray Feathers: A Journal of Ornithology for India and Its Dependencies | volume= 2 | issue= 4 | pages= 461–463 | url = https://archive.org/stream/strayfeathersjou21874hume#page/462/mode/2up}}</ref> but this has not been widely accepted and is usually treated as [[synonym (taxonomy)|synonym]]ous with ''digitatus''.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Vaurie|first=Charles|year=1954|title=Systematic notes on Palearctic birds. No. 4, The choughs (''Pyrrhocorax'')|journal=American Museum Novitates |issue=1658 |pages=6–7|hdl=2246/3595}}</ref><ref>{{cite book| last=Rasmussen | first=Pamela C. | author-link = Pamela C. Rasmussen |author2=Anderton J. C. |author-link2=John C. Anderton  | year= 2006 | title=Birds of South Asia: The Ripley Guide| publisher=Smithsonian Institution & Lynx Edicions | volume=2 | page=598| isbn=978-84-87334-67-2}}</ref> A [[Pleistocene]] form from Europe was similar to the extant subspecies, and is sometimes categorised as ''P.&nbsp;g.&nbsp;vetus''.<ref>(Hungarian with English abstract) Válóczi, Tibor (1999) "[https://matramuzeum.nhmus.hu/sites/default/files/nhmusfiles/kiadvanyok/folia/vol23/079-096.PDF Vaskapu-barlang (Bükk-hegység) felső pleisztocén faunájának vizsgálata (Investigation of the Upper-Pleistocene fauna of Vaskapu-Cave (Bükk-mountain))]. ''Folia historico naturalia musei Matraensis'' '''23''': 79–96</ref><ref>Mlíkovský, Jirí (2002) [http://www.nm.cz/download/JML-18-2002-CBE.pdf ''Cenozoic birds of the world''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110520101755/http://www.nm.cz/download/JML-18-2002-CBE.pdf |date=20 May 2011 }} (Part 1: Europe). Ninox Press, Prague. {{Listed Invalid ISBN|80-901105-3-8}} p. 238</ref><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Mourer-Chauviré | first1 = C. | last2 = Philippe | first2 = M. | last3 = Quinif | first3 = Y. | last4 = Chaline | first4 = J. | last5 = Debard | first5 = E. | last6 = Guérin | first6 = C. | last7 = Hugueney | first7 = M. | year = 2003 | title = Position of the palaeontological site Aven I des Abîmes de La Fage, at Noailles (Corrèze, France), in the European Pleistocene chronology | journal = Boreas | volume = 32 | issue = 3| pages = 521–531 | doi = 10.1080/03009480310003405 | doi-broken-date = 18 December 2024 | bibcode = 2003Borea..32..521D }}</ref>

The Australian [[white-winged chough]], ''Corcorax melanorhamphos'', despite its similar bill shape and black plumage, is only distantly related to the true choughs.<ref name =ITIS2 >{{cite web|title=ITIS Standard Report Page: ''Corcorax'' |url= https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=557570|publisher= Integrated Taxonomic Information System |access-date=5 February 2008}}</ref>