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the 12th September. No Magpie was seen elsewhere in Yarkand. Early in July, when the 

 expedition passed through Ladak, the young birds were just able to fly, and several were caught. 

 In Ladak this species appears to bear the title of Hashambri." The bird referred to by Mr. 

 Henderson does not in the least differ from our common European form ; but in Bhootan there 

 is a race similar to that found in Southern Spain, having the rump black, of which I have not 

 been able to examine a specimen. Pallas writes that in Siberia it becomes rarer towards the 

 east ; and later travellers confirm this statement. Von Middendorff writes that he found it 

 very numerous in the steppes of Baraba, Omsk, and those situated between Bernaul and Tomsk ; 

 but it does not appear to occur north of Syrjanskoje, as he saw the last rather below 61^° N. lat. 

 He did not observe it in the Stanowoj Mountains, nor at Udskoj Ostrog, or on the south coast 

 of the Sea of Ochotsk. Dr. Radde did not observe it on the mountain-range from which 

 the Oka, the Irkut, and other rivers rise, and on the eastern side first met with it near the 

 Changinskischen post, whence towards the Lake Baikal it gradually appeared to increase in 

 numbers, and was common on the Tunka and Toros plains, as also on the Central Irkut. 

 Dr. von Schrenck found it common on the Southern Amoor, but states that its range in Eastern 

 Asia appears to be near the mouth of the Amoor. It occurs again in Kamtschatka, and, 

 according to Pallas, extends thither from China and Japan, along the Kurile chain of islands. 

 In China it is, Mr. Swinhoe writes, common everywhere, and he observed numbers on the large 

 level tracts near Taiwanfoo. Writing on the ornithology of Hainan (Ibis, 1870, p. 350), he 

 says ■" the Magpie was everywhere abundant in Hainan, following the Chinese colonist, and 

 gladdening his heart with its lively movements and auspicious notes. It was breeding in 

 February ; and we frequently saw its nest, often placed in the basket-shaped cross-trees of the 

 poles that stand in front of mandarin offices, and once in the heart of the leaf-crown that tops 

 the cocoa-nut tree. According to the Chinese ' Gazetteer ' of Hainan, the Magpie was intro- 

 duced into Hainan a. d. 1450-56, from the Chinese main. It says, ' " Tcheo," commonly called 

 the " Bird of rejoicing." Hainan was originally without this bird. In the King-tai reign of the 

 Ming dynasty, Admiral Le-yih brought from Haipih [north of the sea, applied to Leen-chow-foo, 

 at the head of the Gulf of Tonquin] ten or so males and females and let them loose. These 

 having bred freely, the bird has become extremely numerous.' " 



In America its range is given by Professor Spencer F. Baird in his work on North-American 

 birds, now in the press, as " from Arizona on the south to Alaska on the north-west. It has 

 been met with as far to the east as the Missouri river, and is found from there to the Pacific. It 

 is abundant at Sitka ; it was observed at Ounga, one of the Shumagin Islands, and was obtained 

 by Bischoff at Kodiak." After a careful examination of five specimens of the American Magpie 

 with my series of the European and Asiatic birds, I have come to the conclusion that they cannot 

 be separated. Prince Maximilian von Wied, in a most elaborate article on the Magpie (Cab. 

 Journ. 1855, p. 1971), in which he argues that they are distinct, states that the American bird is 

 larger, has a stouter bill, has the feathers on the lower neck spotted with white, rears but two 

 young ones, and has a distinct note. Against this I may urge : — the measurements given above, 

 which show that the variation in size is great, and that on an average the American bird is not 

 larger than the European species (but, at the same time, I must acknowledge that the former, 

 as a rule, has a somewhat stouter bill than the latter, though they both vary greatly inter se) ; 



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