170 BULLETIN 191, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



described, as not to require separate treatment. Possibly the calendar 

 of molt differs, but this has not been worked out. 



On at least several of the magpies I noted on October 9, 1929, in the 

 Sacramento Valley, bright yellow of the exposed skin c.ould be seen 

 extending back from the bill, below and nearly around the eye. On 

 some, if not all, of the magpies observed on November 11, 1930, the 

 yellow, bare area around the eye could be seen distinctly. 



Four freshly killed birds from Santa Clara County were examined 

 by me on October 19, 1929. All were in molt. In one, a female, the 

 molt was nearly completed ; the sheaths still showed on the contour 

 feathers on the breast and around the head. The skin was yellowish, 

 especially around the head, the base of the tail, and on the body at the 

 bases of the feathers. The yellow bare space behind the eye was 10 by 

 10 millimeters in size. A male in the same stage of molt showed more 

 yellow on the skin, especially on the under sides of the wings. Another 

 female was farther along in its molt; it showed scarcely any yellow on 

 the skin except around the head. All but the feathers of the throat 

 and chin were free from sheaths. The fourth bird showed sheaths on 

 the feathers about the head, those on tlie chin and throat being least 

 developed. 



Abnormal plumages in the magpie attrac.t more than ordinary interest 

 because of the possibility, which seems almost probability, that some 

 of the existing geographic forms arose by the preservation of this kind 

 of character. This preserv^ation might have been accomplished by means 

 of the kind of geographic isolation that now characterizes the yellow- 

 billed kind. It is interesting, if not significant, that the yellow bill, 

 which is the conspicuous mark of the Californian kind of magpie, has 

 been discovered as an abnormality in other parts of the range of the genus. 



Food. — Kalmbac.h's (1927) study of the food of this species made 

 him conclude that it is somewhat more insectivorous than the black- 

 billed species. At the same time, he pointed out, it is capable of com- 

 mitting practically all the oflfenses of which the latter is so frequently 

 accused. He considered that its scarcity precluded the possibility of the 

 yellow-billed magpie's doing serious damage. The stomachs examined 

 indicated that 70 percent of the bird's food is obtained from animal 

 matter and 30 percent from vegetable. Insects made up more than 

 half the food. Conspicuous among these are grasshoppers, which appear 

 to be most of the food after midsummer, until the cold weather of fall. 

 Bees, ants, wasps, ground beetles, flies, carrion beetles, and true bugs 

 ranked high. Carrion is consumed in winter and early in spring. 



Observations on the manner of feeding have been rec.orded at length 

 on the Hastings Reservation. Capture of flying insects on the wing is 



