DFNDROCITTA. ]37 



Scully, Str. F. viii. p. 329. Dendrocitta sinensis, (Lath.) Jerd. B. Ind. ii. 

 p. 316. Dendrocitta assimilis, Hume, Sir. F. v. p. 117 ; flume and Dan i son, 

 Str. F. vi. p. 386 ; Hume, Str. F. vii. p. 519; viii. p. 106 ; Rdd, Cat. Birds 

 Provincial Mus. i. p. 123. The HIMALAYAN TREE MAGPIE. 



Forehead, lores and feathers above the eye black, also the wings and their 

 coverts ; also all the primaries except the first two, with a white spot at the 

 base ; the terminal third of the two central and other tail feathers black, the 

 basal two-thirds of the former and bases of the latter ashy, or greyish white. 

 Sides of the head, chin, and throat dark sooty brown, paling on the sides of 

 the neck and breast ; nape and upper back, rump and upper tail coverts ashy ; 

 rest of back and the scapulars brownish buff, abdomen and flanks cinereous ; 

 thighs blackish ; vent and under tail coverts chestnut or orange ; under wing 

 coverts glossy black ; bill horny grey, blackish in some ; irides reddish brown ; 

 legs dusky black. 



Length. n to 13 inches; wing 5-4 to 5'5 ; tail 8*7 to 8*9; tarsus Pi to 

 1-15 ; culmen 1*3. 



Hab. The Himalayas. Has been found in Nepaul, Purneah, Darjeeling, 

 Kumaon, and the mountains of Arrakan. According to Capt. Ramsay it occurs 

 on the Tounghoo Hills and in Karenne. Davison procured it on the Mooleyit 

 mountains in Tennaserim. It occurs also in Assam, Cachar, in the hills 

 of Eastern Bengal, N.-W. P., Oudh, and the hills of Southern India. Jerdon 

 says, " Horsfield got a specimen from Madras; that on the Himalayas it is 

 very abundant from 4,000 to 7,000 feet, and that it is found in the more open 

 forests and near cultivation and villages." Like its congeners it is a noisy bird, 

 and has a variety of notes similar in character to those of D. rufa. Feeds on 

 insects and fruit. It breeds from March to June, making a nest of sticks and 

 roots, partially cemented with clay and lined with fibrous grass. Capt. Ward- 

 law- Ramsay found a nest on the Karin Hills which contained two eggs : Jerdon 

 says he had nests of the Himalayan Magpie brought to him at Darjeeling, and 

 that the number of eggs are three or four, of a pale greyish fawn colour with a 

 few pale reddish brown spots and blotches, sometimes very indistinct. Hutton 

 also took the eggs at Mussoorie. He describes them as " dull greenish ash 

 with brown blotches and spots somewhat thickly clustered at the larger end." 

 The eggs no doubt, like those of the Corvinae family, vary much both in colour 

 and markings, as well as in size and shape. 



138. Dendrocitta Bayleyi, Tythr, J. A. S. B. 1863, p. 88; 



Beavan, Ibis, 1867, p. 329; Ball, Str. F. 1873, p. 75.; Hume, Str. F. 1874, 

 p. 245 ; Walden, Ibis, 1874, p. 145, pi. vi. ; Sharpe, Cat. B. Br. Mus. iii. 

 p. 82. BAYLEY'S BLUE TREE MAGPIE. 



PLATE. 



Adult Male. Back and scapulars dull tawny brown, becoming slightly 

 more orange on the rump ; head black shading off into leaden grey on the 



