MAGPIE (Pica pica hudsonia) 



Length, from about i8 to 21 inches. The 

 black head and body and the white belly, white 

 wing patches, and long tail arc distinguishing 

 features. The yellow-billed magpie is smaller, 

 with a yellow bill. 



Range : A characteristic • western species. 

 Breeds from Aleutian Islands and Alaska, cen- 

 tral Alberta, southern Saskatchewan, and Win- 

 nipeg Lake south to northern Arizona and New 

 Mexico, and from the Cascades and Sierra to 

 western North Dakota and western Texas ; 

 resident. 



There are two species of magpies, the yellow- 

 billed being confined to California, where it is 

 very local. In general the habits of the two 

 are similar. "Maggie," as this bird is famil- 

 iarly known in the West, possesses dual traits. 

 He is beautiful of plumage and adds much to 

 the interest of the landscape as he flies from 

 field to held, his long tail extending behind like 

 a rudder. 



Of eminently sociable disposition, this bird 

 is rarely seen alone. He prefers flocks of fam- 

 ily size to 50 and upwards. In more ways than 

 one the magpie is like the crow and his sagacity 

 has developed along much the same lines. In 

 most localities he is suspicious and wary, as he 

 has good cause to be, for he is not a favorite 

 with either farmer or ranchman. He is emi- 

 nently carnivorous, a carrion feeder by prefer- 

 ence, an insect eater by necessity, and he per- 

 forms good service in the latter role. He eats 

 also many wild fruits and berries, but he is an 

 incorrigible thief and well he knows his way 

 to the poultry yard. 



BLUE-FRONTED JAY (Cyanocitta stelleri 



and subspecies) 



Length, 11^ to 13 inches. Easily distin- 

 guished from its fellows by its high crest, 

 brownish slaty foreparts, dark blue wings and 

 tail, and blue or whitish streaks on forehead. 



Range: Resident in western North America 

 from southern Alaska and Montana to Mexico. 



The blue-fronted jays, of which the Steller 

 jay may be taken as the type, are common in- 

 habitants of the piny woods of both the Rocky 

 Mountain and the Sierra Nevada States. They 

 are among the handsomest of the family, the 

 beauty of their plumage, their long erectile 

 crests, and their insistent voices compelling the 

 attention of any who invade their retreats. 

 Not being residents of cultivated districts, al- 

 though they eat grain and small fruits, they do 

 comparatively little damage. On the other 

 hand, they do not do much good ; for, although 

 they are insect eaters, insects do not constitute 

 a large part of their food, nor are the kinds 

 they eat very important economically. Prob- 

 ably their most serious fault is a fondness for 

 the eggs and young of small insectivorous 

 birds, of which they destroy many in the course 

 of the year. They share this failing with all 

 other members of the family, and bird lovers 

 must deem it a pity that such bold, dashing, 

 handsome birds as the jays should be so de- 

 structive to small but useful birds. This habit 

 is all the more to be deplored inasmuch as 

 when unmolested jays readily respond to invi- 

 tations to be neighborly, and willingly take up 

 their abode near houses, where they never fail 

 to excite admiration and interest. 



PHCEBE (Sayornis phoebe) 



Length, about 7 inches. Distinguishing marks 

 are the dusky brown color, dark brown cap, 

 and white margined outer tail feathers. 



Range : Lives mainly in the east. Breeds 

 from about middle Canada south to northeast- 

 ern New Mexico, central Texas, northern Mis- 

 sissippi, and mountains of Georgia; winters 

 from latitude 2,'j degrees to southern Mexico. 



Few of our birds have won a more secure 

 place in our hearts than plain little phcebe, who 

 has no pretentions to beauty of plumage or 

 excellence of song. For this its confiding dis- 

 position and trusting ways are responsible, and 

 many a farmer listens for its familiar voice in 

 early spring and welcomes it back to its accus- 

 tomed haunts under the old barn. Originally 

 building its nest on the face of cliffs, the phoebe 

 soon forsook the wilds for man's neighbor- 

 hood, and year after year apparently the same 

 pair returns to the identical rafter in the barn, 

 the shelter of the porch, or the same nook 

 under the foot bridge, which they have claimed 

 for their own for many seasons. The insistent 

 call of "phoebe, phoebe" is as familiar as the 

 pipe of the robin. 



The phoebe is one of the most useful of birds, 

 living almost wholly on insects, among which 

 are many noxious kinds, as May beetles. Many 

 phoelies remain with us till late fall, and indi- 

 viduals may be seen lingering in sheltered 

 places in the woods long after other flycatchers 

 have started for the tropics. 



WOOD PEWEE (Myiochanes virens) 



Length, about 6'/^ inches. Not readily dis- 

 tinguished by color, though darker than most 

 other small flycatchers, and with wing longer 

 than tail. 



Range: Breeds from Manitoba and south- 

 eastern Canada to southern Texas and central 

 Florida; winters in Central and South Amer- 

 ica. 



The wood pewee is clad in such modest garb 

 and is of such retiring disposition that, were it 

 not for its voice, it would often be passed un- 

 noticed even by the most observant, especially 

 as its home is in shaded glens or deep woods. 

 Here the wood pewee pursues its vocation with 

 a vigor worthy of all praise, and the snap of 

 its mandibles as they close over some luckless 

 flying insect is often the only sound heard in 

 the depths of the quiet forest. There is little 

 about the habits and make-up of this, or indeed 

 of any of the flycatchers, to suggest great con- 

 structive skill, but the nest of the wood pewee 

 is a marvel of taste and ingenuity and, though 

 much larger, suggests the dainty architecture 

 of our hummingbirds. Like their fairy crea- 

 tions, the wood pewees' nest is covered with 

 lichens and saddled neatly across a limb. 



The food of this flycatcher consists almost 

 exclusively of insects and includes, among oth- 

 ers, crane flies, beetles, dragonflies. ants, grass- 

 hoppers, caterpillars, and moths of many kinds. 

 It also devours such pests as the weevils and 

 manv flies, including the house fly. 



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