272 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



Family CORVID.E. Crows, Jays, .Ma(;piks, ktc. 



SinKAMiLY GARRULINtE. Ma(;pii;s and Jays. 



Gkms pica Bkissox. 



PICA PICA HUDSONICA. (Sah.) 



1 !»'■). American Magpie. (475) 



Bill, black : liead, neck, fore-part of the lueast and back, black, glossed 

 with green and blue ; middle of the back, grayish- white ; scapnlai'S, wliite ; 

 smaller wing coverts, black, secondary and pi-iniary coverts, glossed witli green 

 and blue ; primaries, black, glossed with green, their inner webs white except 

 at the end ; secondaries bright blue changing to green, the inner webs gi-eenish- 

 black ; tail, glossed with green, changing to bluish-purple and dai-k green at 

 the end ; breast and sides, pure white ; legs, abdomen. Inwer tail coverts. l>lack. 

 Length, 18-20 inches. 



Hak. — Xorthern and Western Xortli America, casually east and soutii to 

 Michigan (accidentally in Northern Illinois in winter) and the Plains, and in the 

 Rock}' Mountains to New Mexico and Arizona. 



Nest, in a tree, ten or twelve feet or moi-e from the ground, Imilt of coarse 

 sticks. plastere<l with nuid and lined with liair, featheis and other soft 

 materials. 



Eggs, five or si.x. greenish, tliiekly sliaded and dasheil w itii purplish-biDW n. 



The gaudy, garrulous Magpie is, on the Ainericaii coutiueiit, pecu- 

 liar to the north and west, and is mentioned as a ))ird of Ontario 

 on the authority of Mr. C. J. Bampton, Registi-ar of the District of 

 Algoma, who reports it as a rare winter visitor at Sault Ste. Marit-. 

 It has been seen l)y surveying parties along the nortliern tier of 

 States, aiul is said to be possessed of all the acconiplishnicnts attril)- 

 uted to the J>i'itish Magpie, whose history has been so often written. 

 Mr. Trippe, who found it breeding in Colorado, describes the nest as 

 being dome shaped, having two apertures, one at each side, so that 

 when the bird enters by the front it leaves by the one at the back, 

 and while sitting on the nest the long tail projects outside. 



The Magpie is a gay, dashing fellow, whom we always like to .see 

 in his native haunts, and we should welcome him to the woods of 

 Southern Ontario should his curiosity lead him this way. In Alaska 

 he is common in certain districts, though not generally (Jistributefi. 

 His long tail, showy colors, and cunning ways always gain him 

 attention wherever he appears. 



In the rural districts of Scotland these binis are regaided with 

 suspicion, from the V)elief that they kncjw more than birds ought to 



