ZOOLOGY. 213 



never seen this bird feed on anything but seeds and berries, and it rarely descends to the 

 ground, never frequenting river banks or other places for dead fish and carrion, like crows. 

 About the tops of the trees it may be seen extracting the seeds from cones- han"-in"- head 

 downwards like the chickadees. Its cry is loud and harsh like the crows, and its fliirht rapid 

 and steady, it having much larger wings than the jay. I have had no opportunity of observino- 

 its nest, which is probably built in high trees; perhaps burrowed in decayed wood, as with the 

 European species. — C. 



I have not myself obtained it on the Pacific side, but 1 was fortunate enough to get a speci- 

 men on Milk river, Nebraska, about 200 miles east of the Rocky mountains. The onlv bird of 

 the kind I obtained I shot while it was flying past me, and as it was the only bird of the species 

 I have seen I am unable to give any account of its habits. — S. 



Sub-Family GARRULINAE.— T h e Jays. 



PICA HUDSONICA, Bonap. 



Cbrvus Pica, Forster, Phil Trans LXXII, 1772, 382.— WiisiN, Am. Orn. IV, 18 U, 75; pi. xxxv. — Bon. Obs 

 Wills. 1825, No. 40.— Ib. Syn. 1828, 57. Nurr.^n,, Man. I, 1832, 219.— Aud. Om. Bioi;. IV 183 8 

 408; pi. 357. Not of Linnajus. 

 Corvus hudsonica, Jos. Sabixe, App. Narr. Franlilin's Journey, 1823, 25, 671. 



Pica hudsonica, Bonap. List, 1838. — Ib. Conspectus, 1850, 383. Maxim. Rei.>;e Nord. Amer. I 1839 508 Ib 



Cabanis' Journ. 1856, 197.- Newberry, Zool. Cal. and Or. Eoute, Rep. P. R. R., VI iv 1854 

 84.— Baird, Gen. Rep. Birds, 576. 

 Ckptea hudsonicus, Gamdel, J. A. N. Sc. 2d Ser. I, Dec. 1847, 47. 



Pica mdanolatca, "Vieill." Aud. Syn. 1839, 157. — Ib. Birds Amer. IV, 1842, 99; pi. 227. 

 Sp. Ch. — Bill and naked skin behind the eye, black. General color, black. The belly, scapulars, and inner webs of the 

 primaries, white; hind part of back grayish; exposed portion of the tail feathers glossy green, tinged with purple and violet 

 near the end; wings glossed with green; the secondaries and tertials with blue; throat feathers spotted with white. Length 

 19.00; wing, 8. 50; tail, 11.00. 



Bah. — The Arctic regions of North America. The United States from the High Central Plains to the Pacific north of 

 California. 



This magpie is abundant throughout the central region of Oregon and Washington Territories. 

 On our journey across from the Mississippi I first saw this bird about 100 miles west of Port 

 Union, the American Fur Company's trading post, at the mouth of the Yellowstone, although 

 one of our hunters told me that he saw one several weeks before in the middle of Minnesota. 

 As we approached the Rocky mouutains they became more and more plentiful, until in the 

 mountains themselves, along the borders of streams, they were continually met with. They 

 are almost as abundant as far west as the Cascade mountains. The dense mass of forest here 

 met with affords a pretty effectual barrier to their passage. On Puget Sound, west of these 

 mountains, I did not observe a single bird of this species until August, 1856, after which time, 

 during the fldl, they became moderately abundant. They appeared to have crossed over from 

 the east side of the mountains by some of the passes north of Mount Rainier, after the breedino- 

 season had ceased in the central section. I obtained two more specimens from Bellino-ham bav 

 near the 49th parallel north. An Indian from the northwest coast told me that this species is 

 common at Sitka. 



This bird is mischievous and gluttonous, but not so tame or so fond of the society of man as 



