DEXDKOCITTA. 49 



Vernacular names. Mahtab and Chand (Sind); GoJcurayi, 

 Konda-kati-gada (Tel.) ; Mootri (Lueknow) ; Maha-lat (Hindi). 



Description. The whole head and neck with the upper breast, 

 sooty-brown ; remainder of the plumage fulvous or reddish 

 fulvous, darker on the back and scapulars ; wing-coverts greyish- 

 white; wing-quills dark brown, the outer webs of the inner 

 secondaries grey ; tail pale ashy-grey, darkest at the base, broadly 

 tipped with black. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris brown to red-brown ; bill dark slaty 

 horn-colour, albescent at the base ; inouth flesh-colour ; eyelids 

 plumbeous; legs dark brown, claws horn-colour. 



Measurements. Length from 365 to 450 mm., according to 

 length of tail which varies from 193 to 257 mm., in one case 

 actually 305 mm. ; wing from 137 to 159 mm., and in the 

 one case 177 mm. ; tarsus about 33 mm. ; culmen about 28 mm. 



The young are duller in colour than the adults, the head is 

 lighter brown and the lateral tail-feathers are tipped with white 

 or buffy -white. 



Distribution. The whole of Southern India, North to, and 

 including, Orissa ; West to Sind, Punjab and Afghanistan and 

 thence East to the South of Kashmir, Simla Hills and Garhvval. 



Nidification. In the southern part of their range these Magpies 

 breed in February and March, whilst further north they breed 

 principally in May and June. As, however, with so many common 

 birds, their breeding extends over a prolonged period and eggs are 

 laid both later and earlier than the above months. The nest is a 

 rather untidy, but not very bulky, affair of twigs, roots and other 

 material, carelessly interwoven and lined with roots and sometimes 

 a scrap or two of wool. Generally they are placed well up in 

 trees of some size, but often in thorn hedges, Ber bushes or cactus 

 clumps. 



In the north the birds lay three to five eggs, most often four, 

 but in the south they lay fewer and generally only two or three. 

 The majority are of two distinct types : one pale greenish in 

 ground-colour with blotches and spots of light and dark grey- 

 brown; the other pale reddish white or salmon-colour with 

 blotches of reddish and dark brown and others, underlying, of 

 lilac and neutral tint. 



150 eggs average 29'2 x 21'7 mm. 



Habits. This Magpie is more of a plains than a mountain 

 bird, but in some parts of the Himalayas it is said to wander up to 

 as high as 7,000 feet and to breed at this height. It is a sociable, 

 noisy bird but many of its notes are very musical, though it can 

 give vent to most unmusical discords at times. Its usual call is an 

 oft-repeated "bob-a-link bob-a-liuk " as it flies from one bush to 

 another, the cry being repeated by each member of the flock in 

 turn. They are practically omnivorous and are arrant egg and 

 nestling thieves during the breeding seasons of the smaller birds. 



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