THE CROW TRIBE 1485 



of a general chocolate brown, more or less spotted with white. Two of these spe- 

 cies belong to the higher parts of the Himalayas, where they are residents through- 

 out the year in forests of pine and cedar. The best-known species is the European 

 nutcracker (N. caryocatactes} , which inhabits the northern and central portions of 

 Europe and Northern Asia, ranging into Northern China and Japan. A conspicu- 

 ous species during many months of the year, sometimes approaching the neighbor- 

 hood of human dwellings in search of food, in the breeding season the nutcracker 

 becomes shy and cautious, so that its whereabouts is no longer easy to ascertain. 

 The difficulty of discovering the vicinity of its nest is enhanced by the nutcracker 

 being one of the very earliest birds to nest, and consequently the forests in which 

 it breeds, usually vast extents of pine trees, often at an elevation of several thou- 

 sand feet above sea level, are covered with deep snow at the time when the eggs 

 have to be sought. These are usually laid in the month of March, and are pale 

 bluish white, in ground color, thickly spotted with olive brown. The young are 

 easily reared by hand if supplied with a sufficient variety of food, and exhibit a 

 marked predilection for insects. Mr. Howard Saunders gives the following descrip- 

 tion of the habits of the nutcracker, as observed in the Prattigau: " Between Sep- 

 tember i4th and i8th this species was quite common among the hazel bushes ; and 

 the top of a low wall, within five minutes' walk above the village where I was 

 stajdng, was a favorite anvil on which to hammer the nuts, their shells lying thick 

 on it. Every few minutes a bird might be seen flitting along the hillsides its 

 widely-spread tail feathers displaying the white spots on their tips with a some- 

 what dipping flight, less labored than that of the jay. Often alighting on a sloping 

 patch of sward, the nutcracker would draw itself up till its neck seemed unnatu- 

 rally elongated, then give a few skips, and, taking a short flight, make a furious 

 attack on a bush, tearing off a whole cluster of nuts. This was sometimes rejected, 

 after a comically critical examination, and another cluster would be torn off, after 

 which the bird would fly up to some tolerably wide branch of a fir, and hammer the 

 nuts energetically to free them from their shucks, pausing to look up as if for admi- 

 ration. Then the bird would hop rapidly up the branches as if on the rungs of a 

 ladder to the top of the tree, dash away across a ravine, settle on a bush, and be 

 lost to view for a time, returning with its crop quite distended with nuts." One of 

 the notes is a peculiar gurre, gurre; but there is another, like a sprung rattle. 

 Hancock records the fact that a nutcracker which lived in' his possession for six 

 years had a sweet, low, delicate, warbling song; this was uttered only when every- 

 thing was perfectly quiet. 



Characterized by their stout and compressed beaks, which are sharp 

 at the edges and arched toward the tip, short and rounded wings, 

 strong feet, and long, graduated tails, the magpies have typically a black-and-white 

 plumage, although many of their Oriental representatives are gorgeously colored. 

 The common magpie (Pica rustica) is found throughout the more northern portions 

 of the Old World, from Britain to Northern China, and likewise occurs in the west- 

 ern districts of the United States. On the other hand, the Moorish magpie (/*. 

 mauritanica] is peculiar to Northwestern Africa, although certain Spanish speci- 

 mens tend to bridge over the distinctions of color distinguishing the typical repre- 



