TJROCISSA. 25 



This species is spread over a considerable portion of the Northern 

 hemisphere. 



//<(}>its, $c. The Magpie is found in well-wooded parts of the 

 country and near cultivation, and is said by Biddulph to be at 

 all times common in Kashmir. He found two nests in May in that- 

 country. The nest is a large domed structure of sticks built in a 

 tree or bush, and the eggs, usually five in number, are greenish 

 marked with umber and sepia-brown and measure 1*25 by '97. 



11. Pica bottanensis. The Black-rumped Magpie. 



Pica bottanensis, Deless. Rev. Zool. 1840, p. 100 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 91 ; 



Horsf. $ M. Cat. ii, p. 551 ; Jerd. B. I. ii, p. 305 ; Hume, S. F. v. 



p. 281 ; id. Cat. no. 068 ; id. S. F. ix, p. 293. 

 Pica megaloptera, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xi, p. 193 (1842). 

 Pica tibetana, Hodys. A. M. N. H. (2) in. p. 203 (1849). 

 The Himalayan Magpie, Jerd. 



Coloration. Eesembles P. rustica, but is much larger with a longer 

 wing and shorter tail and with the rump entirely black. 



Length about 21; tail 11-5; wing 10 to 10*5; tarsus 2'1 ; 

 bill at front 1-4 to 1'6. 



All the species of Pica have a band of white or grey across the 

 rump except the present form and P. mauritanica t which is found 

 in Spain and N. Africa. Of P. bottanensis there are some thirty 

 specimens in the British Museum and they all agree in having 

 the rump entirely black, in their large size, short tail, and long 

 wing. 



Distribution. The higher parts of Bhutan, Native Sikhim, and 

 Chinese Tibet. There is no evidence that P. bottanensis occurs in 

 Nepal. There is a skin in the British Museum said to have been 

 collected in Kumaon, but I doubt the correctness of this locality. 



Genus UROCISSA, Cabauis, 1850. 



. 10. Head of U. occipitalis. 



The genus Urocissa contains a few brightly plumaged Magpies 

 which are found in India and China. They differ from the true 

 Magpies in having the nostrils, which are covered by rather soft 

 plumes, not by stiff bristles, situated near the base of the bill, in 



