AVES. 19 



No. 134. Urambu, July 24, 1873. 



This species is found throughout the Himalayas and extends to Gilgit. 



Genus PICA. 

 35. Pica pica. 



Corvuspica, Linn. S. N. i. p. 157 (1766). 



Pica caudata, Severtz. Turkest. Jevotn. p. 64 (1873) ; Zarudn. Ois. Transcasp. p. 58 (1885) . 



Pica bactriana, Bp. ; Hume & Renders. Lahore to Yark. p. 240; Scully, Str. F. iv. p. 158 (1876). 



Pica rustica (Scop.), Dresser, Ibis, 1875, p. 238 j Blanf. East. Persia, ii. p. 264 (1876); Wardlaw 



Eamsay, Ibis, 1880, p. 63; Bidd. Ibis, 1881, p. 78; Scully, ibid. p. 572; C. Swinh. Ibis, 1882, 



p. Ill ; Homeyer & Tancre, MT. orn. Ver. Wien, 1883, p. 88 ; Scully, J. A. S. Beng. Ivi. p. 85 



(1887) ; Gates, Faun. Brit. Ind., Birds, i. p. 24 (1889). 

 Pica media, Blytb; Prjev. in Rowley's Grn. Misc. ii. p. 278 (1877). 

 Pica pica (L.) ; Sbarpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. iii. p. 62 (1877); id. Trans. Linn. Soc. (2) Zool. v. pt. 3, 



p. 69 (1889). 



No. 449. Chiliscambo, August 18, 1873. 



No. 483. Shargol, August 20, 1873. 



No. 543. Leh, August 27, 1873. 



[All the above specimens are in full moult.] 



(No number.) Sanju, October 28, 1873. " Hakke " (Kokand) ; " Saghizghan " (Turki). 



No. 926. Sanju, November 1, 1873. 



No. 1181. Chakmak, Thian-Shan, January 3, 1874. 



No. 1523. Panjah, April 14-23, 1873. 



Although I am perfectly willing to admit that the amount of white on the quills in the 

 Magpies varies considerably, yet none of the above specimens approach the white-winged 

 form called P. leucoptera, which was only obtained in the vicinity of Tarkand. Dr. Scully 

 apparently only met with the ordinary form of Magpie, but the winter specimens observed 

 by him at Yarkand were probably P. leucoptera. He gives the following note : — " This 

 Magpie was first observed, within the limits of Kashgharia, at Kiwaz (elevation 7500) on the 

 26th of September, 1874. After that it was not seen until we reached Kashghar in October, 

 and there it was common in gardens and on roadside trees during the months of November 

 and December. The bird appears to be almost unknown at Yarkand, where only a few 

 stragglers are occasionally seen in winter. On the return journey in August it was seen on 

 two occasions in pairs near Kizil Aghil and the Chuchu Pass. In summer this species 

 appears to inhabit all the hills round Eastern Turkestan, viz. north of Aksu and Kashghar, 

 Sarikol, and south of Yarkand and of Sanju, descending to the borders of the plains in 

 winter." The Magpie breeds at Gilgit. 



Dr. Henderson states that this species was ^' first met with at Dras, soon after crossing 

 the Zoji-la into Ladak. All through this latter province it was common about every 

 village until the Pangong Lake was reached. In Ladak it appears to bear the title of 

 ' Hashambri.' " 



Colonel Biddulph writes : — " We first found this at Kargil, and it became very common 

 in the Indus Valley ; but we lost it directly we crossed into the Pangong valley. We again 

 met with a Magpie at Tam, a march above Sanju, and thence we found it very common 

 about villages and cultivation the whole way to Kashghar and to Maralbashi; but on our way 

 to the Pamir we lost it beyond Aktala, the first camping-ground in the hills (5500 feet)." 



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