30 COKVIDJE. 



December to February. The nest appears to be similar to that of 

 the last. One egg recorded by Legge was bluish green marked with 

 umber-brown and bluish grey, and measured about 1-3 by 1. 



Genus DENDROCITTA, Gould, 1833. 



In the Tree-pies we have a collection of birds which are closer 

 to Pica than to either Urocissa or Cissa, inasmuch as they have 

 black bills and very numerous stiff, but somewhat short, bristles 

 completely concealing the nostrils. The bill, however, is short with 

 the commissure greatly curved, and in one species, D. bayleyi, the 

 tail approaches the next genus in structure, the central feathers 

 being gradually enlarged throughout their length, not suddenly at 

 the tip as in Crypsirhina. 



The Tree-pies are sociable, associating in small bands, and they 

 are aboreal, seldom descending to the ground. They have a series 

 of clear metallic notes, which sound very pleasantly in the jungle. 

 They construct large nests in trees, and lay eggs which are less 

 Corvine in appearance than those of the true Magpies. Their food 

 consists of both fruit and insects. 



Key to the Species. 



a. Tail ashy and black. 



a'. Crown and hind neck uniform smoky 



brown ; abdomen rufous D. rufa, p. 30. 



b'. Crown black; hind neck and abdomen 



white -D. leucoyastra, p. 31. 



c'. Crown black; hind neck and ahdoraen 



uniform ashy D. himalayensis, p. 32. 



b. Tail entirely black. 



d '. Without a white wing-spot D. frontalis, p. 33. 



e'. With a white winpr-spot D. bayleyi, p. 34. 



Fig. 11. Head of D. rufa. 



16. Dendrocitta rufa. The Indian Tree-pie. 



Lanius rufus, Scop. Del. Faun, et Flor. Insubr. ii, p. 86 (1786). 

 Coracias vagabunda, Lath. Ind. Orn. i, p. 171 (1700). 

 Crypsirhina pallida, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv, p. 30 (1846). 

 Dendrocitta rufa (Scop.), Blyth, Cat. p. 92 ; Horsf. $ M. Cat. ii, p. 565 

 Jerd. B. I. ii, p. 314; Hume, N. E. p. 421 ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. 



