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MAGPIE. 563 
rapidly decreasing, and districts that once were its favourite retreats are 
quickly becoming deserted or have already ceased to afford it a con- 
genial home. In spite of this persecution, however, the Magpie is fairly 
common, and breeds in almost all parts of England; but in the 
Channel Islands it appears to be very local. In Scotland, according to 
Mr. Gray, it is found in all the wooded districts from Wigtown to Suther- 
landshire, and is very common in some parts of Ayrshire, although it 
appears not to visit the Outer Hebrides, and only occasionally to stray 
to Islay and Mull, where it does not breed. It has never occurred 
in the Orkneys or the Shetlands. In lreland the Magpie is pretty 
common in suitable localities ; and it would appear that it was formerly 
much rarer than it is at the present time, if not actually absent altogether, 
as the general belief in Ireland is that this bird was imported by the 
English. 
The Magpie is found throughout the Palearctic Region north of the 
Mediterranean, Syria, South Persia, and of the lowlands of Baluchistan ; 
in the Oriental Region it is found in the Himalayas, Japan, South China, 
Formosa, and Hainan; and in the Nearctic Region it is found throughout 
the western United States, but only occurs east of the Missouri river in 
winter. In the north it extends up to and occasionally beyond the Arctic 
circle. It is migratory in the northern portions ofits range; and on migra- 
tion it appears that individuals occasionally stray beyond their usual limit, 
as it has been recorded from Egypt and Aleppo. ‘Throughout its extensive 
range it is subject to slight variations ; and two forms have apparently 
become sufficiently differentiated to rank as good species. ‘The most 
distinct of them, P. nutéalli, is apparently confined to South California. 
Its only distinction from the common species appears to be that the bill 
and the naked skin behind the eye are yellow imstead of black. In 
Morocco and Algeria P. mauritanica occurs, a species differmg from 
typical examples of the common bird in being slightly smaller, in having 
no light patch on the rump, and the bare spot behind the eye more deve- 
loped and blue in colour. The black rump, however, is a very doubtful 
character. The amount of white varies very considerably in Huropean 
individuals, and is entirely absent from some specimens from Portugal 
and South Spain, and from Bhotan in the North-east Himalayas, birds 
from the latter district having been consequently described as a distinct 
species under the name of P. bottanensis. Besides these variations, there 
is a considerable difference in the extent of white on the primaries, and in 
the length of the first primary and the tail. The white on the primaries 
is most developed in birds from Siberia and Central Asia ; and in some 
adult males from these localities it frequently extends to the point of the 
feather on some of the primaries. This form has received the name of 
P. leucoptera. The white is least developed in examples i on m one 
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