CONSPICUOUSLY BLACK AND WHITE 383 
old nest and undertake the bringing up of a second 
family. He teaches the young to catch food on the 
wing, just as the Arkansas and Cassin kingbirds teach 
theirs, and as I believe all flycatchers do, — by releasing 
a maimed insect in the air just in front of the hungry 
little one, who, forgetting fear, instinctively darts out to 
catch it. At this the father gives a cheery note of tri- 
umph, which the nestling soon imitates and unconsciously 
begins to utter whenever he is successful in seizing his 
small prey. This and a low twitter during the mating 
season, and the conventional announcement of his name 
in a plaintive tone, are all the songs he ever sings. 
475. BLACK-BILLED MAGPIE. 
Pica pica hudsonica. 
Famity: The Crows, Jays, Magpies, ete. 
Length: 17.40-21.75. 
Aduits: General plumage iridescent black, except belly and wing- 
patches white; bill and naked skin of orbital regions black; tail 
long and graduated. 
Young: Head, neck, ete. dull black, without iridescence on crown. 
Geographical Distribution : Middle and Western North America, Alaska 
and Hudson Bay to Northern Arizona and New Mexico; east to 
Eastern Colorado. 
Breeding Range: Kast of the Sierra Nevada, north to Shasta valley, 
south to Mono Lake. 
Breeding Season: April 20 to July 1. 
Nest : Globular; 2 feet in diameter and 3 feet high; made of sticks, 
inner walls of mud, lining of fine rootlets ; entrance hole on one side ; 
placed in small oaks, cottonwoods, and pines, 3 to 20 feet from the 
ground. 
Eggs: 7; grayish, heavily and regularly blotched with brown. Size 
1.37 X 0.89. 
To the tourist or sojourner from the East, the Magpie 
is one of the most interesting features of Western fauna, 
