20 Hall, Notes on the Magpie (Gymnorhina lenconota). [,,^"j"i.. 



proper time. On 6th October one young bird stood on the edge 

 of the nest and preened its feathers. Then it went back into 

 the nest again. On nth October the young birds left the nest 

 to go into the branches immediately above it. On 15th October, 

 early morning, one young bird was back in its nest again. 



The colours of the chicks at the time of leaving the nest 

 were — crown, lores, and cheeks black ; hinder crown and nape 

 creamy-white ; back grey streaked with black and rufous- 

 brown ; rump white ; tail black ; abdomen dark grey tipped 

 with buff; legs black ; bill slaty-black. 



The remarks on colour appear to me to refer to the young 

 males. At the time of leaving the nest the young females are 

 without the creamy-white nape — that is, the back from the 

 crown to the rump is rufous-brown. 



From 13th to 20th October the two chicks under observation 

 had their food brought to them by the parents. On the latter 

 date they started to follow the parents, each parent taking 

 charge of a chick, and always keeping as wide apart as the 

 limits of their ground would allow. The reason for this is clear, 

 for should the young birds come together during the period of 

 feeding there would be sure to be a battle between them. It is 

 not known whether or not they camp together. 



On 9th November the young birds were able to search for 

 food and partly feed themselves. The inclination to fight each 

 other grew less. 



On 1st January the young birds imitated the song and call 

 notes in a low key. By ist February they were fairly perfect 

 in all notes. The baby notes or cries were retained until the 

 time of leaving the parents, which occurred on 12th August. 



Observation 2. — A pair of Magpies was rearing a very early 

 brood (July) when suddenly some mishap occurred. The nest 

 was deserted. The female Magpie constructed another nest 

 adjacent to the old one, and hatched out the uncommonly large 

 brood of four young. The larvae of a nocturnal moth existed 

 plentifully on the ground hunted over by the breeding pair, so 

 that no difficulty was experienced in rearing the young up to 

 the stage of following their parents. 



Knowing the combative instinct of the young Crow-Shrikes, 

 their behaviour was closely watched for over a week, and at 

 frequent intervals for a month immediately following. On 26th 

 October the young birds were following their parents. Two 

 were in possession, and fought and drove away the other two as 

 often as they attempted to crave food from their parents. The 

 only opportunity they had to get a little attention from the 

 parents was when the masterful young Magpies were quite 

 satisfied or resting in the shade. That was seldom. This kind 

 of hardship evidently compelled the less combative Magpies to 

 directly seek food for themselves ; of this they did not seem to 



