CROW TRIBE. 





MAGPIES. 



that he has seen nests on the poles in 

 front of a mandarin's house, and in the 

 crown of a cocoa-nut palm. The eggs, 

 from five to seven in number, are bluish 

 white, with greenish brown or brownish 

 spots. A nonmigrant, as a rule, and fre- 

 quenting open rather than forest districts, 

 the magpie affords excellent sport before 

 the hawk, Sebright stating that " it is far 

 superior to every other kind of hawking. 

 The object of the chase is fully a match 

 for its pursuers a requisite absolutely 

 necessary to give an interest to any sport 

 of this kind, and it has the advantage 

 of giving full employment to the company, 

 which is not the case in partridge-hawking. 



A down or common where low trees or thorn bushes are dis- 

 persed at distances of from thirty to fifty yards apart, is the 

 place best calculated for this diversion. When a magpie is seen 

 at a distance, a hawk is immediately to be cast off. The magpie will take refuge 

 in a bush the moment he sees a falcon, and will remain there until the falconer 

 arrives, with the hawk waiting on in the air. The magpie is to be driven from his 

 retreat, and the hawk if at a good pitch will stoop at him as he passes to another 

 bush, from whence he has to be driven in the same way, another hawk having 

 been previously cast off, so that one or the other may always be so situated as to 

 attack him with advantage. Four or five assistants besides the falconer are 

 required for this sport. The magpie will always endeavour to make his way to 

 some strong cover ; care therefore must be taken to counteract him and to drive 

 him to that part of the ground where the bushes are farthest from each other/' 

 Azure-winged The azure- winged magpie (Cyanopica cooki), on account of certain 



Magpies. differences, is regarded as representing a genus apart from the typical 

 pies ; and is one of the handsomest of European birds. In colour, the head and 

 upper-part of the neck are coal-black, the back and mantle brownish grey, the 

 throat greyish white, the under-parts light fawn grey, and the wings and tail 

 light greenish blue. This bird is selected for notice on account of the remark- 

 able geographical distribution of the genus to which it belongs. Thus the typical 

 azure -winged magpie is confined to certain districts of Spain and Portugal, 

 where it is far from common, and very local, breeding in small colonies, and 



