THE MAGPIE. 23 



P. p. mauritanica (north-west Africa) has black rump and. blue 

 naked patch behind eye, P. p. hactriana (northern Asia) is larger, 

 has white rump and usually more white on primaries, P. p. sericea 

 (China, S. Japan) is very dark, P. p. hottanensis (Tibet, Himalayas) 

 is very large. Long tail and black and white coloration unmis- 

 takable specific distinction?. 



Field-characters. — ^Pied plumage and long wedge-shaped taU 

 separate it at once from all other British birds. In thick cover 

 presence often revealed by unmistakable chattering cry. 



Breeding-habits. — Usually breeds in tall trees, sometimes in 

 thorny bushes or straggling hedgerows, and in Scandinavia occa- 

 sionally under eaves of houses and on telephone-poles. Nest. — 

 Bulky, built of sticks with lining of earth and over it a layer of 

 fine roots. Rarely hair reported used in lining. Dome of sticks, 

 nearly ah^ays thorny, covers nest, but an opening is left. 

 Eggs. — ^Usually 5 or 6 to 8, rarely 9 or 10 ; vary in ground- 

 colour from greenish-blue to yellowash- and greyish-green, closely 

 spotted and mottled brown and ash. Varieties almost unmarked 

 or Avith heavy bro\\ n caps, and erythristic eggs have been recorded. 

 Average of 100 eggs, 32.9x23 mm. Breeding-season. — Begins 

 April; exceptionally, late March. Incubation. — ^Lasts 17 18 days ; 

 performed by female alone {Ann. Scot. Nat. Hist., 1896), though 

 it has been stated that both sexes take part. Fledging-period. — 

 26 30 days. One brood. 



Food. — Mainly insects, but also carrion, small mammals (rats, 

 mice, voles), young birds of many species and eggs, insects (beetles 

 and their larvae, larvae of lepidoptera), worms, and vegetable 

 matter (grain, acorns, holly-berries, etc.). 



Distribution. — England and Wales. — Resident. Generally dis- 

 tributed, but much diminished in numbers in some parts by game- 

 preserving and probably now exterminated East Anglia. Some 

 evidence of migration on east and south-east coasts England. 

 Scotland. — Resident. Very scarce north and north-west, and 

 rather local elsewhere on mainland, being in some places plentiful 

 and in others very scarce. Unknown O. Hebrides and very rare 

 vagrant Orkneys and Shetlands. Ireland. — Resident since 17th 

 century. Numerous ; scarcer in extreme west. 



Distribution. — Abroad. — Nearly whole of Europe. Replaced by 

 other forms in Spain and north-west Africa, and in parts of Asia 

 and North America. 



Genus NUCIFRAGA Briss. 



Nttcitraga Brisson, Orn., i, p. 30 (1760 — ^Type by tautonymy " nuci- 

 fraga,'" i.e N. caryocatactes ; cf. op. c, ii, p. 59). 



Bill about as long as head, somewhat rounded laterally, almost 



