BIRDS OF THE BRITISH ISLES. 



THE Magpie (Pica caudata, Gerini) is another resident 

 species in the British Isles. It also inhabits most of the 

 Western Palearctic Region. The adult magpie cannot well 

 be confounded with any" other of our birds of the British 

 Isles. The adult is of a beautiful black colour on head, 

 neck, back and breast, with reflections of violet and green ; 

 scapulars and abdomen, white; tail, long and iridescent 

 with greenish-bronze, and, towards tip, purplish, shading 

 into black ; bill, legs, and feet, black ; irides, dark brown. 

 Length, from sixteen to eighteen inches. The young are 

 similar in colouration, but the glossy sheen is scarcely per- 

 ceptible. 



