THE MAGPIES. I 7 



many naturalists, IV. caryocatactes, and a short-billed form, N. 

 brachyrhynchus, the supposed differences between which we 

 have never been able to appreciate. 



Range in Great Britain. — An irregular visitor. Sometimes, as 

 in the case of the Waxwing and Pallas' Sand Grouse, a west- 

 ward immigration occasionally takes place in Europe, but not 

 many instances of the capture of this bird in England have 

 been recorded. 



Range outside the British Islands. — An inhabitant of the conifer- 

 forests of Europe and Siberia, breeding very early in March, 

 though in Siberia, according to Mr. Seebohm, it does not 

 nest before the middle of June. It is found as high as 

 67 N. lat. in Sweden, and its range extends across Siberia 

 to Kamtchatka and Japan. To the southward it has been 

 found breeding in the pine-forests of Transylvania, Switzerland, 

 and France, and it probably nests in the Pyrenees and some 

 of the mountain-ranges of Northern Spain. 



Habits. — Mr. Seebohm states that, like most of the other 

 European Corvidce, the Nutcracker is almost omnivorous, and 

 will devour eggs and nestlings of other birds. It also extracts 

 seeds from the conifer-trees, and devours wasps and other 

 insects. A very interesting account of the same author's 

 experiences of the birds in Siberia is given by him in his 

 "History of British Birds" (vol. i., p. 584). 



Nest. — Somewhat bulky and ragged, composed of twigs of 

 larch and spruce firs, and lined with dry grasses. 



Eggs. — Three to five in number, the ground-colour nearly 

 white, with numerous tiny spots of pale brown, sometimes a 

 little larger towards the larger end. Axis, 1-4-1-55 inch; 

 diam., 0-95-1-0. 



THE MAGPIES. GENUS PICA. 



Pica, Briss., Orn., ii., p. 35 (1766). 



Type, P. pica (Linn.). 



Five species of Magpie are known, one being our common 



British Magpie, which is found over the greater part of Europe 



and Asia, and also inhabits North America. In Central Asia 



the White-winged Magpie {P. kucopiera) takes its place, and 



L C 



