BIRDS OF NEW YORK 20~ t 



with a few bristles; middle toe joined to the outer as far as the first joint; 

 size medium to large, the family including the Raven and the Crow, cur 

 two largest passerine birds. Sexes alike in coloration and size; voice harsh 

 and unmusical, though the syrinx is well developed; subfamilies of Crows 

 or Corvinae, and Jays and Magpies (Garrulinae) are recognized. 



These birds are mostly omnivorous in diet, feeding on insects, young 

 birds, small mammals, fish and crayfish, fruits and grains. Thus, as would 

 be expected, they frequently develop injurious habits which are very 

 destructive to song birds and sometimes to the farmers' crops. Undoubt- 

 edly, in general, the Crow and the Blue jay arc injurious species. A care- 

 ful study of the food of the Crow by Prof. Walter B. Barrows will be 

 found in Bulletin 6, Biological Survey, United States Department of Agri- 

 culture, and of the Blue jay in the Yearbook for 1896, pages 197-206. 



Pica pica hudsonia (Sabine) 



Magpie 



Corvus hudsonius Sabine. Franklin, Narr. Journ. Polar Sea. 1823. 671 

 Pica caudata DeKay. Zool. N. Y. 1844. pt 2, p. 131, fig. 53 

 Pica pica hudsonia A. O. U. Check List. Ed. 3. 1910. p. 221. No. 475 

 pica, Lat., magpie; hudsonia, of Hudson bay 



Description. Tail very long, rounded, and the central feathers 

 elongated. Head, neck, back, throat, breast and under tail covers black; 

 secondaries, belly, sides and inner webs of primaries white; wings and tail 

 glossy, metallic greenish blue, the whole varied with bronze and purplish. 



Length 17.4-22 inches; wing 7.3-8.5; tail 9.3-12; culmen 1.1-1.4. 



Distribution. This species is mostly confined to the western country 

 from the Yukon, Saskatchewan and Winnipeg to New Mexico; and rarely 

 straggles eastward as far as Illinois, Michigan, Ontario, Hudson bay and 

 Quebec. The only record for New York State is on the authority of DeKay 

 who reports its occurrence near Niagara, but there is, as far as I know, no 

 specimen in existence which was taken within the limits of the State. It 

 is not improbable that it may have occurred in the northern and north- 

 western portion of the State, however, for it occurred at Odessa, Ontario, 

 in March 1898 (see Clarke, Auk, 15:274). 



