AMERICAN MAGPIE 133 



West to western Oaxaca (Pluma) ; Guerrero (Rincon) ; and north- 

 western Jalisco (San Sebastian). 



The range as outlined is for the entire species, which has been 

 separated into several subspecies. One race (Xanthoura yncas luxuosa) 

 occupies the eastern edge of the Mexican Plateau from Verac.ruz and 

 Puebla north to southern Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon ; the Rio Grande 

 green jay (X. y. glaucescens) is found in the lower Rio Grande Valley 

 in Texas and south into the Mexican states of Nuevo Leon and 

 Tamaulipas ; the Tehuantepec green jay (X. y. vivida) is found in south- 

 western Mexico and northwestern Guatemala; the Guatemalan green jay 

 (X. y. guatimalensis) occupies the country north and east from northern 

 Honduras to the Yucatan Peninsula; while the Jaliscan green jay 

 (X. y. speciosa) is apparently confined to the state of Jalisc.o. 



Egg dates. — Texas : 47 records, April 2 to May 29 ; 25 records, April 

 15 to 30, indicating the height of the season. 



Mexico: 2 records, April 23 and 30. 



PICA PICA HUDSONIA (Sabine) 



AMERICAN MAGPIE 



Plates 23-25 



Q)NTRIBUTED BY JeAN MyrON LiNSDALE 

 HABITS 



The magpie has been closely associated with man for many centuries 

 in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere, and the lore concerning 

 it has develop)ed in great amount. Sometimes hated for its disagreeable 

 traits, sometimes admired for its attractive ones, this bird has remained 

 one of the best-known to people who live near it. And wherever it 

 occurs, the magpie tends to favor lands also oc.cupied by man. 



In America only persons living in the North and the West have 

 opportunity to become intimately acquainted with magpies in their normal 

 haunts. Of the close to 20 distinguishable kinds of magpies in the 

 world, two occur in northwestern North America. The black-billed 

 one, most like its relatives in Europe and Asia, occupies much of the 

 mountainous country west of the prairies and north of the deserts even 

 to the Alaska Peninsula. It avoids the deep forests and the dry, open 

 plains, but it is at home in the canyons and on streamsides where tall 

 thickets and scattered trees provide cover from pursuit, sites for nests, 

 and clearings for foraging on the ground. 



The magpie is one of the larger birds in any locality in which it is 

 found. Its structure and inherited habits enable it to feed upon a wide 



667487— 4*— 10 



