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with it only in the valleys, in the regions of the olive and vine. I obtained many eggs in the 

 second week of May in the valley north of the Parnassus. Most of them were more or less 

 incubated. The usual number in each nest was seven." Throughout Southern Germany it is 

 everywhere numerous; and the Bitter von Tschusi Schmidhofen informs me that varieties are 

 not uncommon in collections formed in that part of Europe. I observed it along the Danube ; 

 and Dr. Radde writes that " in Southern Russian its range is peculiar, as it is common in the 

 steppes, as also on the other side of the Tschatirdach Mountains, but is never found on any part 

 of the south coast. It is a resident, and pairs already in February." Mr. G. Cavendish Taylor 

 met with it in the Crimea ; and it is also found in Asia Mindr, where Dr. Kriiper met with it, 

 especially in the interior, and found its nest near the sea, not far from Burnova. In Palestine 

 it is, Canon Tristram writes (Ibis, 1866, p. 60), "conspicuous by its absence. Nowhere could 

 we meet with or hear of Pica caudata. He may exist in Northern Syria ; for Russell, in his 

 ' Natural History of Aleppo,' compiled more than one hundred years ago, mentions it in his 

 scanty catalogue, though without further remark, as inhabiting the environs of that town. It is 

 abundant in Asia Minor, and especially in the island of Cyprus, within sight of the coast of 

 Syria; and we shot several specimens close to the town of Larnaka, on our way to Beyrout. 

 But we did not meet with a trace of it in the Lebanon, or in any other apparently promising 

 district. Its absence cannot be accounted for by the want of suitable localities ; for the Lebanon 

 valleys, the northern portions of Galilee, and, above all, the vast glades of Gilead would seem 

 admirably adapted for its resort. Yet the Arabs knew nothing of such a bird, nor had they any 

 name for it; and our muleteer, Khadour, a very intelligent and observant man, who had spent 

 years in travelling over all parts of Syria, assured me, when I showed him a Cyprus skin, that he 

 had never seen such a bird in the country. Nor did I obtain any further recognition from Arab 

 fowlers, who likewise saw the skin. Thus the southern limit of the range of the Magpie seems 

 very sharply defined." It is said to have occurred in North-east Africa ; but Captain Shelley, in 

 his useful work on the birds of Egypt, writes that, " according to Bonaparte, the Magpie is to be 

 met with in Egypt and Nubia ; and Ruppell states that it is tolerably plentiful in Lower Egypt 

 during the winter. Von Heuglin, on the other hand (Orn. N.O. Afr. p. 497), affirms that it 

 was never seen by Hemprich and Ehrenberg, Brehm, or himself in the course of all their travels 

 in North-eastern Africa. There is a Magpie in the Frankfort Museum labelled 'from Egypt;' 

 but as this may have been a tame bird, and as the statements of Bonaparte and Ruppell are not 

 always to be relied upon, I feel that I should not be justified in including the Magpie among 

 the true Egyptian birds." In North-western Africa it is replaced by P. mauritanica. 



To the eastward the common Magpie occurs in Persia, where, according to De Filippi, it is 

 rare to the south of Elburg, but more common about Ghilan ; and thence it is found through the 

 Himalayas to China and Japan, and northward in Siberia and Kamtschatka. 



Mr. G. Henderson, in his notes on the ornithology of Lahore and Yarkand, writes that 

 " the Afghan or White-rumped Himalayan Magpie was first met with at Dras, soon after crossing 

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

 until the Pangong Lake was neared. A similar Magpie, believed to be the same, but of which 

 unfortunately no specimens were procured, was observed at Sanju, where the road emerges from 

 the hills into the plains of Yarkand, both in going and returning, viz. on the 16th August and 



