1913 BIRDS OF THE FRESNO DISTRICT 65 



Yellow-billed Magpie. Pica nuttalli (Audubon). 



The only claim of the Yellow-billed Magpie to a place on this list is through 

 a record made by Miss Winifred Wear, of a bird observed near Riverview on 

 the San Joaquin River northv/est of Fresno. It has also been reported from 

 Laton. 



On account of the increasing rarity of this species it might not be out of 

 place to mention such localities as are now frequented by magpies in this part 

 of the state. Goldman (Condor x, 1908, p. 204) mentions a small colony near 

 Summit Lake. The author can record them from Cottonwood Creek in Madera 

 County about ten miles west of Friant, where, however, they must be considered 

 rare, and it is doubtful if half a dozen pairs could be found along the whole 

 length of the creek. 



Near Letcher there is a small colony that has all but disappeared during the 

 past few years, on account, no doubt, of the conspicuousness of the birds and of 

 the fact that they nest very near a much travelled road. Then, too, the presence 

 of a fig orchard nearby, where their visits may not be encouraged, might also 

 explain the diminution in part. A visit was made to this colony on April 5, 

 1908, for the purpose of securing a set of eggs if possible, but of the seven or 

 eight nests seen, only two were accessible to me. These were placed about forty 

 feet from the ground in the top of a cottonwood tree near the creek. In appear- 

 ance these were like the usually described nests of this species, being large hood- 

 ed structures with a thick cup of mud for the nest proper, this being lined with 

 dry grass stems and horsehair. These nests were about six feet apart, and one 

 held a single fresh egg, while the other appeared to be ready for occupancy. The 

 owners were exceedingly shy, scolding from a distance but not to be approached 

 nearer than one hundred yards. All the other nests were placed in the extreme 

 tops of sycamore, oak, and cottonwood trees, or on the ends of horizontal limbs 

 from forty to sixty feet from the ground, and on such small branches that it 

 would have been folly to have- attempted to examine them. April 19, after an 

 unusually hard ride on my wheel. I climbed to the two nests in the cottonwood. 

 but was much disappointed to find them deserted and the one egg gone. 



April 10, 1910, Chester Lamb, Chas. E. Jenney, and the writer again made 

 the trip to Letcher, finding five or six wild, unapproachable birds, and only two 

 nests that appeared to be tenanted. One of these could not be reached. After a 

 difficult climb up a slender sycamore, Mr. Lamb found that there were no eggs in 

 the second nest, although it was newly lined with horsehair : the two or three 

 other nests that we managed to examine were in a dilapidated condition. 



Another colony of magpies is known to exist farther up in the hills, in a 

 sparsely settled district where they have been able to hold their own for the past 

 thirty years, so I am informed by old inhabitants. In passing through that dis- 

 trict on May 18, 1908, I observed a large number of the birds scattered over the 

 country for two or three miles, and observed a number of nests that were from 

 fifty to seventy feet up in some giant cottonwoods near a creek. Many bobtailed 

 young were observed that were, apparently, not long out of the nest. 



At a distance an adult magpie, as it floats along from one oak tree to anoth- 

 er, bears a really striking resemblance to a Phainopepla. except in size. 



