519 



PICA MAUEITANICA. 



(MOORISH MAGPIE.) 



Pica mauritanica, Malh. Mem. de la Soc. d'Hist. Nat. de Metz (1843). 

 Pica mauritanica, Malh., Levaill. jun. Expl. Scientif. de l'Alg., Atl. Ois. pi. 8 ; Loche, Expl. 

 Scientif. de l'Alg. Ois. i. p. 118 (1867). 



. Figura unica. 

 Levaillant, jun., torn. cit. pi. 8. 



Ad. Piece rustics persimilis, sed alis brevioribus, uropygio nigro, et pone oculum macula conspicue ceerulea 

 facile distinguendus. 



Adult Male (El Djerid). Generally resembles Pica rustica; but the head and back are more glossed with 

 green than in that species ; and behind the eye there is a large and very conspicuous bare spot bright 

 cobalt-blue in colour ; the rump is black, not dull white as in P. rustica ; and the black on the breast 

 extends much further down than in that species. Total length 18 inches, culmen 1*45, wing 62, 

 tail 10-7, tarsus 1-75. 



Obs. Dr. 0. Finsch informs me that there is a specimen in the Bremen Museum which measures — 

 culmen 1*15, wing 8 - 6, tail 11*3, and tarsus 2 inches. 



This species, differing from our common European Magpie in having the bare spot behind the 

 eye blue, and in having a shorter wing, is found only in North-western Africa, where it appears 

 to be scarcely so common as our bird is in most parts of Europe. Mr. Taczanowski writes to me 

 that he " met with it in the province of Constantine, where it appears to be less numerous than 

 the common Magpie is in Poland." During his sojourn in Algeria he " saw large numbers in the 

 mountains of Bouarif and in the neighbourhood of Batna. It is found in the neighbourhood of 

 dwellings, though not so frequently as is the common Magpie in Europe, and is much more shy 

 than that bird." Mr. Osbert Salvin found it common in the Eastern Atlas ; and Canon Tristram 

 states (Ibis, 1859, p. 292) that " a few pairs may occasionally be found in the northern portions 

 of the Sahara." Mr. John H. Gurney, jun., observed numbers at the Dayat of Tibrem; and 

 Mr. C. Tyrwhitt Drake records it as abundant in Morocco. Loche writes that it occurs chiefly 

 in the wooded portions of the three provinces of Algeria, and is to be met with near Boghar, 

 Teniet-el-Had, la Calle, Philippeville, Tlemcen, and Oran ; it feeds on fruit, seeds, caterpillars, 

 insects, and remains of flesh, is very voracious, and plunders the nests of small birds, devouring 

 the eggs or young, and committing great havoc amongst them. Like the common European 

 Magpie it is fond of shining objects, and has the habit of stowing away such objects, as well as a 

 supply of food, in some convenient place in a hollow tree. In its habits it in general closely 

 resembles Pica rustica, and utters a call-note like that of this species, which may be described as 

 resembling the words agaz, agaz, from which, Major Loche states, it bears in Algeria the name 



