18 



burg: Kre, Krek, Jelster. Malta: Ciaida haida. Norway: Skjcere, Shjor, 

 Skjur, Tunfugl. Poland: Knik sroka, Sroka zwyczajna. Russia: Soroka. 

 Sweden: Skata, Skjiira, Skdra, Skamsfugel. Sicily: Carcarazza. 



Pica rustica (Scop.). Dresser, Birds of Europe, IV, p. 509; Newton, 

 ed. Yarrell, 11, p. 312; Saunders, Man. p. 237; Dresser, Man. of Pal. Birds, 

 p. 417, P. pica pica (L.). Hartert, Vog. Pal. Fauna, p. 19. 



Breeding Range: The whole of Europe with the exception of the 

 Iberian peninsula, where it is replaced by a form intermediate between the 

 typical and the Moorish race. [Also Asia Minor, Persia and Transcaspia.] 

 British Common in all the wooded districts of England and Wales, except 



Isles, -where it has been exterminated by game preserving, as in Norfolk and 

 Suffolk, and nesting not only in tall trees but also in thick thorny hedges, 

 sometimes only a few feet from the ground. In Ireland it is now common 

 and increasing, breeding in every county, though less numerous in the ex- 

 treme west (Ussher). It breeds on the Aran Islands and Rathlin, nesting 

 in the ivy on rocks where trees are absent, and also in low bushes, some- 

 times only two feet from the ground, on islets in the loughs. It is common 

 in the Isle of Man, and also locally in parts of the south of Scotland, 

 where however it appears to be decreasing or stationary in numbers. It 

 does not breed in the Shetlands, Orkneys, Outer Hebrides or S. Kilda; is 

 rare in Skye and north Scotland, and unknown in Iceland and the Faeroes. 

 p^^' In the plains of central Europe the Magpie is everywhere conspicuous, 



Europe. ^^^ there are few parts of the continent, except in the alpine regions of the 

 principal mountain ranges, where it is not represented. In Scandinavia it 

 is found commonly as far as the North Cape, enjoying a certain amount 

 of protection and in consequence becoming very tame and familiar. Here, 

 as in the treeless parts of Jutland, the nests are frequently built under the 

 eaves of the houses and several have been seen in a single tree; while in 

 the far North instances have occurred of nests being built on the ground. In 

 European Russia Witherby records it from the Kola peninsula and Pearson 

 from Kanin. Towards the south Kriiper describes it as common in Acarnania 

 and the plain of Parnassus, and it is generally distributed throughout Italy. 

 In Sicily Lilford found nests in the papyrus swamps near Syracuse, but 

 curiously enough it is not met with in Sardinia, Elba or Corsica, and Lilford 

 did not observe it in the islands of the western Mediterranean. 

 Nest. This is an elaborate piece of architecture, consisting of a strongly 



built foundation of sticks, with earth or turf intermingled, carefully plastered 

 internally with a neat cup of clay or mud: while a large dome of black- 

 thorns is built over the top of the whole, and when the cup is thoroughly 

 dry, a lining of fibrous roots is added.* Where the usual materials are not 

 available, as in the islands off the west coast of Ireland, the Magpie will 



* On rare occasions replaced by dry grass. 



