194 



MAGPIES. 



B. MAGPIES AND JAYS. Garrulidae. 



Bather large birds, usually with bright or striking colors ; 



Fig. 249. 



bills, conical; nostrils concealed by 

 bristly feathers ; wings, short, rounded ; 

 tails, long, often rounded. Nests of 

 sticks, placed in trees or bushes ; eggs, 

 3 to 10, whitish, buff or greenish, thick- 

 ly spotted with darker. Cries, harsh, 

 seldom very musical. Intelligent and 

 active; somewhat gregarious; not mi- 

 gratory. Flight, heavy and direct. 



a. Magpies. Pica. 

 Large birds with short wings and 

 long, graduated tails; black and white. 



00, A. 1. AMERICAN MAGPIE, P. HUD- 

 SONICA. 20.00; black, glossed with green, purple, blue, and 

 violet; white on scapularies, Fig. 250. 



inner webs of secondaries, and 

 abdomen, fig. 251. Northern 

 and western N. A. ; casual east 

 to Mich, and northern III. 

 b. Banded Jays. 



Cyannocitta. CC, A, a, 1. 



Smaller; tail, shorter and rounded; wings and tail more 

 or less banded with black ; head, crested. 



1. BLUE JAY, C. CRISTATA. 12.00; blue above, gray- 

 ish-white beneath; wing-band, tips of secondaries and prima- 

 ries, white; black about head as in fig. 252. Eastern N. A. 

 from Fla. northward. Abundant in woodlands and about 

 dwellings. With the harsh and well-known varied cries, has 

 a low song. 



1*. FLOBIDA BLUE JAF, C. c. FLOBINCOLA. Small- 

 er than 1 and duller, more purplish-blue above. Fla. and 

 Gulf coast to southwestern Texas. 



