212 



PICA iMELANOLEUCA VAR. HUDSONICA, MAGPIE. 



c. nut f alii. 



Pica iiuttallU, At^D., Orn. Biog. iv, 18:58, 450, pi. 362; Syn. 1839, 152; B. Am. iv, 1842, 

 104, pi. 228.— NuTT., Man. i, 1840, 236.— WooDii., Sitj^r. Kcp. 1853, 77.— Nkwb., 

 P. R. R. Rep. vi, 1857, 84, pi. 26.— Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 578.— Heekm., P. R. R. 

 Rep. X, 1859, pt. vi, 54.— Cool'., B. Cal. i, 1870, 295. 



Clepfcs niitlaUii, Gamh., Jonru. Pliila. Acatl. i, 1847, 46. 



J'tcii inchoiulciua var. iiuitdllii, CoUKS, Key, 1872, 164. 



Fivu caudaia var. iiuttallU, B. B. & R., N. A. B. ii, 1874, 270, pi. 38, f. 2. 



Hab. — Western and Northern North America. Eastward occasionally to Lake Su- 

 perior and Hndsou's Bay (Hichardsou). Western Kansas (Pond) and Iowa (Coucs) to 

 the I'acitic. Alaska {Dull). Breeds in monntains of New Mexico (Cohcs). Var. nuttaUil 

 in California, apparently to the exclusion of the normal form. The typical form in 

 Europe. 



List of specimens. 



Licntcnanl Warren^s Expedition. — 4547, 5196, Fort Pierre; 5193, Rnuninjr Water; 5197, 

 Great Bend, Missouri River; 5198, Fort Berthold; 5194-95.5199, Fort Randall ; 9060, 

 Fork of Cheyenne River; 9057-58-.59, 9062-63, 9067. Black Hills. 



Laier £'ifj9ef/(7*OHS.— 54320, 60459-60, 60814-16, 61074-81, 61155, various Wyoming 

 localities; 61780, Idaho. 



lu ascending the Missouri I saw the first Magpie near Sioux City, 

 Iowa, a point immediately on the border of its eastward dispersion, 

 Mv, Trippe does not include the species in his Minnesota list, nor does 

 Dr. Head, United States Army, mention it among the birds of Fort 

 Ripley, in that State. Prof Snow includes it among Kansas birds, 

 stilting that it has been seen in Shawnee County. Mr. Allen found it 

 in the mountains of Colorado, up to at least 11,000 feet, and elsewhere 

 in the West. Further south, Dr. Kenneiiy informs us that he met with 

 it soon after crossing the Rio Grande, and saw it from time to time on 

 his journey thence into California. But in following almost in Dr. Ken- 

 ueriy's tracks through part of New Mexico and most of Arizona, I did 

 not meet with a single one, and must conclude that it is rare in that 

 region. I, however, found it breeding east of the Rio Grande, in the 

 Raton Mountains, in June. A nest that I there found in a dense tbicket 

 was a large globular mass, about eighteen inches in diameter, su.spended 

 in a thick bush about ten feet high. Its walls were composed of closely- 

 interlaced twigs, and very thick, leaving but a small cavity, the en- 

 trance to which was a hole in one side, large enough to admit the hand. 

 Tlie lining was a little dried grass. The nest contained six young ones, 

 nearly ready to fly — a fact that disposes of one of the alleged distinc^t- 

 ive characters of the American as compared with the European Mag- 

 pie, namely, that it has but two young. The eggs measure from 1.40 to 

 1,20 in length by about 0.00 in breadth ; the ground-color dull ])ale 

 bluish or greenish, sometimes merely grayisli-white, thickly marked all 

 over with spots and dots of several shades of olive-brown and clearer 

 brown, with neutral-tint and i)ale-purplish or lavender shell-markings. 



.Mr. Aiken describes a somewhat differently built nest: "The nest, 

 which is quite a curious structure, is usually placed in a small scrubby 

 tree, about tea feet from the ground. They commence to build about 

 the last of March, and the eggs are laid two or three weeks later. The 

 foundation of the nest is of twigs, tinnly cemented with mud. On this 

 is placed the nest proper, which is composed of finer twigs, plastered 

 with mud, and lined with rootlets. Outside of this a wall of dead twigs 

 is built u[) from the foundation, and arched over at the top, the whole 

 structure forming a rounded u)ass from one to three (!) feet in diameter. 



