12 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



blackish, with the greater portion of the inner webs white ; secondaries 

 metallic-blue; wing-coverts metallic-green, with blue margins; breast and 

 upper abdomen black ; lower abdomen pure white ; crissum and under tail- 

 coverts black. 



Iris dark brown ; bill and feet black. 



Total length 18-50 inches, wing 6-80, culmen 1-35, tarsus 1-80. 



Adult female resembles the male, but is rather smaller. 



Observations. — The blue patch behind the eye is present even in young 

 birds not yet able to fly ; apparently this species never shows the grey on 

 the rump present in P. rustica, and is altogether a smaller bird, its wing 

 measurement being, as a rule, an inch or more less than in the European 

 species. Marocco specimens seem to have a still shorter wing than 

 Tunisian birds. 



This Magpie, another species peculiar to North-western Africa, 

 and with a limited range, is apparently somewhat locally distributed 

 in Tunisia, as well as in Algeria and Marocco, being by no means 

 uncommon in some districts, and rare or entirely absent in others. 

 Although a resident species it is not unlikely that for some reason or 

 other, such as the absence of food or water, this Magpie may shift its 

 quarters to a certain extent and move from one locality to another. 

 This would account for the fact of its being sometimes not found in 

 a district where it was formerly abundant. On the whole, however, 

 P. mauritanlca seems to be rather more plentiful in the central and 

 southern districts of the Kegency than in the north, but I have met 

 with it when travelling through the flat country bordering the Eiver 

 Medjerdah, and it probably also occurs in the neighbourhood of the 

 town of Tunis, as I have more than once seen examples of it in the 

 market. 



On the plains between Feriana and Gafsa, in Central Tunisia, I 

 have often met with the Moorish Magpie in small parties, frequenting 

 patches of cultivated land dotted over with thorn bushes, and further 

 south I have found it near lias-el- Aioun, among the tamarisk bushes 

 bordering the Oued Seldja. 



Like Grey Shrikes, Bush-Babblers, and other wary birds, this 

 Magpie is fond of open country, where the nionotony of the level 

 plain is only broken by isolated clumps of bushes. These afford 

 sufficient shelter to the birds, and at the same time offer admirable 

 points of vantage from which to spy the surrounding country. 



P. mauritanica closely resembles our European Magpie in its 

 general life and habits ; its note, also, is not dissimilar. The Arab 



