TREE-PIES. 



69 



'THE WANDERING TREE-PIE. 



especially in the vicinity of cattle parks; there the 

 manure is probed, beetles and locusts caught, and ocoa- 

 .sionaldy a butterfly seized when flying. When the dew 

 dnies up, and the caittle are driven out. the flock follows 

 at no great distance, or comes quite confidingly into 

 the farms and stables. Tihe call-note is a clear, loud 

 whistle, like that of the Alpine Chough (P yrrhvcorax 

 alpinits). Action and bearing on the earth more 

 Magpie4iJke, the tail is then carried horizontally, and 

 is jerked up and expanded, and, particularly in tlhe 

 -sunshine, Ptilostomus* coquets like the glistening forme 

 of Lampro'tornie, and, chattering, approaches the male 



* The g-enns to which Heuglin referred this species. A. G. B. 



in order clearly to attract its attention. Towards even- 

 ing the dispensed pairs and families assemble in the 

 vicinity of their night quarters, the aforesaid Dolek 

 palms, after tihe fashion of Starlings, engage during 

 flight in various sports and evolutions, and only after 

 the commencement of nighft settle down to silence and 

 rest." 



Mr. J. S. Budgeltt, in an account of the ornithology 

 of the Gambia River (The Ibis, 1901, p. 491), says of 

 tlhis species : "M'Carthy Island. Very common. The 

 males have red beaks, the femiales black ; they act as 

 scavengers." According to Heuglin, the red-ibilled birds 

 are the young. 



Captain Boyd Alexander says (The Ibis, 1902, p. 

 307) : " This is a common species in the open country, 

 consorting together in small flocks, and always to be 

 found where cattle are grazing. It nests in the tops of 

 tall coeoanut trees. Its flight is straight and steady, 

 and, when travelling together, these (birds give vent to 

 a. series of short, sharp cries, almost in unison. 



"The males have the iris claret-coloured, the females 

 hazel." 



Mr. F. J. Jackson, describing birds collected during 

 a journey to the Ruiwenzori range (The Ibis, 1906, 

 p. 570), observes : "The only two occasions on which 

 I have seen these birds were at the same place, though 

 on different days. Each time three individuals were 

 observed. The place was an open plain, with snort 

 grass, and a few palm trees dotted about, in which the 

 birds perched. They never seemed to stay long in one 

 place, but flew from tree to tree, and very low to the 

 ground, ae if they intended to settle every moment. 

 Their note had a curious and somewhat harsh sound.'* 



I have discovered no definite account of the nidifioa- 

 tion of this Magpie. It first arrived at the London Zoo- 

 logical Gardens in 1866, then in 1872 ; in the Amsterdam 

 Gardens in 1886 ; in 1891 the de'ailer. G. Boisz, imported 

 it; and in 1892 it reached the Berlin Gardens. 



WANDERING TREE-PIE (Dendrocitta rufa). 



Above deep rust-coloured, more orange on the lower 

 back, rump, and upper tail-coverts ; head and neck 

 sooty-ibrown, passing gradually into the rusty colouring 

 of the back ; wings black, th'e least coverts" dull grey, 

 the median and greater coverts ashy-whitish, as also 

 the outer weibs of the inner secondaries ; tail grey, 

 broadly tipped with black ; lores and throat blackish ; 

 remainder of under-parts bright fulvous under wing- 

 coverts and edge of wing grey, with a wash o,f fulvous ; 

 bill black ; feet dark slaty ; irides blood-red. The 

 female is browner, and has a much stronger bill. Halb., 

 India, ranging through Assam and Burma to Tenasserim. 



Jerdon .says of this species ("Birds of India," Vol. II., 

 pp. 314, 315 : " In the plains it is most common in weill- 

 wooded districts, and in the Ciarnatic and bare table- 

 land it is onllv found occasionally about the larger 

 towns and in hilly jungles ; but, as you go .further north, 

 it is to be seen in every grove and garden, and about 

 every village. It occurs singly o-ccaeionially, very fre- 

 quentfly in pairs, and now and then in small parties. 

 It flies from tree to tree with a slow undulating flight. 

 At times it feeds almost exclusively upon fruit, but 

 at other times on insects, grasshoppers, locusts, man- 

 tides, and caterpillars. The natives always assert that 

 it destroys younig birds and eggs, and consider it of the 

 Shrike genus. Mr. Smith says ' he has known this bird 

 enter a covered verandah of a house and nip off half 

 a dozen young geraniums, visit a cage of small birds, 

 begin by stealing the grain, and end by killing and 

 eating the birds, and repeating these visits daily till 

 destroyed.' Mr. Buckland informs me that he has 

 known it enter a verandah and catch bats. It has a 



