322 CORVIDiE. 



The beak is black : the irides hazel : the head, neck and 

 back, black with a greenish gloss ; rump generally greyish- 

 white ; upper tail -coverts black; scapulars pure white; 

 upper wing -coverts and tertials of a fine shining blue, 

 tinged according to the light in which they are seen with 

 green ; secondaries black, glossed with violet ; primaries 

 black glossed with green and having an elongated patch 

 of pure white, varying in extent, on the inner web of each ; 

 tail black but beautifully iridescent above, on the outer 

 web of all the side-feathers and on both webs of the 

 middle feathers, being richly glossed with greenish-bronze, 

 passing through purple at either end and tipped with violet- 

 black. Chin and throat black, the shafts of some of the 

 f eathers shining greyish-white ; upper part of the breast 

 black; the lower part of the breast, the belly, sides and 

 flanks, pure white ; thighs and lower tail-coverts black : legs, 

 toes and claws, black. 



The size varies not inconsiderably but the average length 

 of a male is fully eighteen inches, of which the longest tail- 

 feathers often measure nearly eleven ; the wing from the 

 carpal joint to the tip is about seven inches and a quarter : 

 the first primary only two inches and a half long ; the 

 second about an inch shorter than the third ; the fourth, 

 fifth and sixth nearly equal in length, but the fifth is com- 

 monly the longest. 



The female is smaller, the tail is shorter, and the plu- 

 mage less brilliant. 



the eyes ; but as Prof. Baird has remarked (1!. N. Am. p. 578) : — "It is a very 

 serious question, whether the bird is anything more than a permanently yellow- 

 billed variety of the common bird." Here may be noticed the very remarkable 

 fact that a Pie with a yellow beak has twice been seen in Great Britain, first by 

 Mr. Harvie Brown and Mr. J. G. K. Young in Stirlingshire, Feb. 23d, 1867 

 (Zool. s.s. pp. 706, 877), and secondly, in the July following, by Mr. G. F. 

 Mathew near Buckfastleigh in Devon {op. cit. p. 1016). Whether these birds 

 were accidental varieties of our own form, or imported examples, and still more 

 whether, notwithstanding the wide distance of the two localities, the same indi- 

 vidual was twice seen, must, remain open questions ; but the accuracy of the 

 observation in neither case admits of doubt. A specimen curiously discoloured, 

 even to its bill, is mentioned by Macgillivray (Br. B. i. p. 365) ; and a Daw 

 with a yellowish bill has been known for more than two hundred and fifty years 

 (Schwenckfeld, Theriotroph. Siles. p. 305). 



