334 BIBDS OF ILUSOIS. 



Sp. CnAn. Dill iiml nnkcd suborbital skin bliirk. Hi'iul. neck, brcoHt, iuUTiu-upulars, 

 lliilne of Willi:, tiiil-eoverts, and tibin.', di'op MHck, (he pilnum umiuliy icIoHKcd with 

 bronzo-sri'fiilsh. Lower parts (except lis deecrlliedi. seiipulars. and inii'-r webs of pri- 

 maries, pure white. Wines metallii' Krecnish bine: tail rieh nietallie cfen. pussinc. 

 near tips, through bronze and reddish violet into violet-bluo. Total leiiKlli (fresh speei- 

 inensl, 17.50-21.75: extent. 2I.2,V 35.00; wine (in skins). 8.00-8,80; tall, 12.00-13.40, Foet deep 

 l>laek: Iris brown, with bluish eniy outer rluB. 



The occurrence of the Black-billed Magijie at present an3rvvhere in 

 Illinois is extremely doubtful. There is no recent record of its havinp 

 been taken or even seen within the limits of the State, and its claim 

 to a place in our fauna rests solely on Mr. Kennicott's statement that 

 it is (or was at the time his list was published) a rare winter visitant 

 to the extreme northern counties. 



The nest of the Magpie is a vei-y bulky and somewhat remarkalile 

 structure, composed exteriorly of sticks of various sizes, fonning a 

 spherical mass, the upper portion of which fonns a canopy to the 

 nest proper, the entrance being through one side. The eggs are 

 usually six in number, but often as many as nine, and are of a pale 

 olive or grayish white color, thickly speckled with olive,biown. 



Genus CYANOCITTA Strickland. 



Ci/anocilla Stkickl. Ann. Nat. Hi.Ht. .w. IMJ. ^til. Type. Corrus crialaliig LiSN. 

 t'l/niiHruii "SwAiN-sox," Haibd, B. N, Am, 1858.— B, B. & B. Hist. N. Am. B. II, 1871, 3M. 



271, ot AucT. ((IPC Swains.) 



"Gen. Char. Head crested. Wings and tail blue, with transverse black bars; head 

 Und liaek of same color. Bill rather slender, somewhat broader than liieli at tlie base; 

 eulnien about equal to the head. Nostrils large, nearly circular, coiii'caled by brlslh'S. 

 Tail about as Iouk as the wiuRs. lenKthened, graduated. Hind claw large, longer than 

 its digit." Uli»l. ^'. Am. li.) 



Two widely distinct species of this well-marked genus belong to 

 North America, one of them being peculiar to the Eastern Province, 

 the other restricted to the mountainous portions of the AVestern 

 Province, and south through ^lexico to Guatemala and Honduras. 

 The latter is divided into several geographical races, as follows : 



(1) C. coroiKita (rcrd), Honduras, Guatemala, and southern Mexico ; 



(2) C. coroiKita (tiddcmatti, central Mexico ; (3) C. coroiKitit m<icrol<>phii, 

 Kocky Mountains of the United States; (4) C. coronata atnicctens, 

 northern Kocky Mountains; (5) C. coronata xtiUeri, northwest 

 coast, from the northern Coast Range of California to Sitka ; 

 (6) C. coronata frontalix, Sierra Nevada range. These races are 

 very distinct when tyi)ical examples are compared ; so much so, 

 in fact, that were not true intergradatiou evident tliey would be 

 considered separate species. They are all cliaracterized in "History 



