THE WANDERING PIE 



389 



Another and more beautiful member 

 of this group is an Asiatic bird, very com- 

 mon in tbe naturalist's shop and in glass 

 cases, and known by the popular and very 

 appropriate name of the "Wandeeing 

 Pie." 



This bird is a native of the Himalayas, 

 and is found in some numbers spread 

 over a large part of India. It is called 

 the Wandering Pie on account of its habit 

 of wandering over a very large extent of 

 country, travelling from place to place 

 and finding its food as it best may, after 

 the fashion of a mendicant friar. This 

 custom is quite opposed to the general 

 habits of the Pies, who are remarkable for 

 their attachment to definite localities, and 

 can generally be found wherever the ob- 

 server has discovered the particular spot 

 which they have selected for their home. 

 Mr. Gould suggests that its wandering 

 habit may be occasioned by the necessity 

 for obtaining subsistence, the Wandering 

 Pie feeding more exclusively on fruits and 

 other vegetable nutriment than is generally 

 the case with the Crow tribe, and being 

 therefore forced to range over a large ex- 

 tent of land in search of its food. Indeed, 

 the short legs and very long tail of this 

 species would quite unfit it for seeking its 

 living on the ground, and clearly point 

 out its arboreal habits. 



The shape of this species is very re- 

 markable, on account of the greatly elon- 

 gated and elegantly shaped tail, which is 

 coloured in a manner equally bold with 

 its form. The general colour of this bird 

 is blackish grey upon the upper parts, 

 warming into cinnamon upon the back. 

 The quill-feathers of the wings are jetty 

 black, the wings themselves grey, and the 

 tail-feathers grey, with a large bold bar 

 of black at their extremities. The under 

 surface of the bird is light greyish fawn. 

 The two central feathers of the tail are 

 extremely long, and the others are gradu- 

 ated in a manner which is well exem- 

 plified in the accompanying illustration. 

 Although it appears to be a rather large bird, 

 the aspect is a deceptive one, on account 

 of the long tail, which is ten inches in 

 length, the remainder of the head and 

 body being only six inches long. 



We now arrive at the true Crows, 

 which, like the preceding group, have 



WANDERING PIE.— remniints va/johunAvx. 



