ORNITHOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS. 241 



The Caniou Crow is as common in Petropaulski at the present day 

 as it was formerly, according to the narratives of earlier travelers. They 

 perform the same duties in Kamtschatka as do the vultures and turkey- 

 buzzards, of more southern regions, and the more intelligent of the in- 

 habitants, interested in the cleanliness of the town, object when any- 

 body disturbs these public scavengers. 



The lUack Crow does not occur on the island, except as a rare strag- 

 gler from the mainland. The cosak on Bering Island, Alexander Se- 

 livanoff", who, of course, was very familiar with the.se birds from his 

 native place, Petropaulski, observed a single crow near the southern 

 seal-rookery early in the spring of 1883. 



108. Pica kamtschatica Stejneger. 



1826.— Coriv/s pica Pall., Zoogv. Ross. Asiat., I, p. 389 0)rtrO.— Kittl Denkw II p 

 320(1858). ' 



1850.— Pica caudata Br., Cousp. Av., I, p. 382 (jiart). 



ia^8.— Pico leueonotoa Brehm, .J. f. Orn., 1858, p. 173 (part). 



1876.— Pica media Blakist., Ibis, 1876, p. 333 (nee Blyth). 



1882.— Pica leiuoptera Ste.txeger, Natureii, 1882, p. 182 (nee Gould).— Dybow., 

 Bull. Zool. Soc. France, 1883, p. 3()2. 



1884.— Pica camtscltaiica Stejneger, Pr. Biol. 8oc. Washingt., II, p. 07. 



The Kamtschatkan Magpie is the largest form with which I am ac- 

 quainted, and exceeds in size even the Central Asiatic P. leuconotos Brm.* 

 Unfortunately I have no Japanese specimens for comparison, butjudg 

 ing from Sharpe's table of dimensions, in his Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., 

 Ill, p. 64, they do not seem to be larger than the average European bird, 

 and Taczanowski (J. f. Orn. 1875, p. 251) informs us that the specimen 

 from Ussuri {op. cit., 1876, p. 198, identified as Rjaponica) "is much 

 smaller than Daurian and Baicalian Magpies (PJeiiconotos);' and that 

 '■ the wing and the tail are not so lustrous colored, being in that re- 

 spect superseded even by the European Magpies." As the Kamtschat- 

 kan bird, besides its superior size, is one of the most brilliantly colored 

 forms, it would seem improper to unite it with its southern neighbor. 



A close comparison of adult specimens with South Chinese and 

 Daurian specimens shows that P. kamtschatica differs from both P. 

 sericea Gould and leuconotos Brm. by having the feathers of the throat 

 black to their very base, while the two latter forms have them distinctly 

 white on their basal half. From the Chinese birds it is easily distin- 

 guished, (1) by having the primaries white to their very tips, \\ hile those 

 in P. sericea have a rather broad, black edge; (2) by a larger and purer 



*Cab. Joiirn. f. Orn., 1858, p. 173, = Pica leucoptera Oould, 1862. 

 15861 Bull. 29 16 



