PICA. Si 
Habits. This Jackdaw is in habits much the same as its western 
cousin but in the wilder parts of its habitat it is essentially a 
cliff bird. It is very fond of company, and numerous birds are 
often seen together, though it can hardly be called gregarious like 
the Rook. Tis food corsicts of all kinds of grain, seeds, fruit and 
insects. It will also kill and eat mice, ards inl nestlings of 
other species, though not nearly to the same extent as the Girone 
Crow or Raven. 
Our Indian and Central Asian bird has been again separated 
by Kleinschmidt as having the under parts darker and the wing 
longer than in Russian fide but the fine series in the British 
Niiscur does not endorse this diagnosis, 
Genus PICA Brisson, 1760. 
There is but one species of Pica in India containing three sub- 
species which grade into one another in the areas where they 
meet, but which are well differentiated over large tracts of country 
in which their characteristics are quite constant. 
Fig. 9.—First primary of P. pica bactriana. 
Pica differs from Corvus in having a very long graduated tail 
and in having a first primary of very peculiar shape. The 
Magpies are, however, more addicted to well-wooded districts ; 
they are equally wary and they are almost omnivorous. 
