316 BIRDS OF INDIA. 



Affghanistan. It is perhaps Adams' species referred to D. rufa, as 

 found in Cashmere. 



676. Dendrocitta Sinensis, Latham. 



Corvus, apud Latham — Gray andHARDW., 111. Ind. Zool. 1, pi. 

 26— Gould, Cent. Him. Birds, pi. 43— Blyth, Cat. 464— 

 HoRSF., Cat. 850 — Jerdon, Cat. 461 — Kokia-kak at Mussooree— 

 Karrio-pho, Leprh — Karria/i-ban, Bhot. 



Thk Himalayan Magpie. 



Descr.— Forehead, lores, and pali;h over the eye, black ; chin, 

 throat, and ear-coverts sooty-brown ; top of head, nape, and hind 

 neck, bluish ashy ; mantle and scapulars earthy brown ; rump 

 and upper tail-coverts cinereous ; wings (with their coverts) black, 

 with a white spot, formed by a bar across the base of the pri- 

 maries ; tail with the two centre feathers cinereous, passing 

 into black at the tip, all the others black ; lower parts, from 

 the throat, reddish cinereous, paling on the lower abdomen and 

 thigh-coverts ; under tail-coverts rich chesnut. 



Bill horny black ; legs dusky black ; irides red brown. Length 

 16 inches; wing 5^; tail 8^; tarsus 1|- ; bill at front 1^, less 

 strongly curved and hooked than in the last two. 



This Magpie is found throughout the Himalayas, and occurs 

 very rarely on the hills of Southern India. 1 got a specimen, said 

 to have been killed on the Eastern Ghats, and fancied that I saw 

 it on the Segoor pass of the Neilgherries. Horsfield also has one 

 specimen from Madras. On the Himalayas it is very abundant 

 from 2,000 feet up to 7,000 feet, mostly so perhaps from 4,000 to 

 6,000 feet. It is found in the more open parts of the forest, -and 

 near cultivation and villages. Like its congeners it is a noisy 

 bird, and has a variety of notes, similar in character to those of 

 D. rufa. It usually feeds on trees, on insects and fruit. I have, 

 however, seen it on the ground eating grain. I have had the nest 

 and eggs brought me at Darjeeling frequently. The nest is made 

 of sticks and roots, and the eggs, three or four in number, are of 

 a pale dull greenish fawn colour, with a few pale reddish brown 

 spots and blotches, sometimes very indistinct. Hutton, wlio got 

 the eggs at Mussooree, describes them as dull liTeenish. ash, with 



