212 PICA MELANOLEUCA VAR. HUDSONICA, MAGPIE. 



c. nuttaUi. 



Picanuttaim, AuD., Orn. Biog. iy, 163^, 450, pi. 362; Svn. 1839, 152; B. Am. iv, 1*42, 

 104, pi. 22^.— XUTT., Man. i, 1840, 236.— Woodh"., Sitgi-. Kep. 1853, 77.— Newb., 

 P. E. E. Rep. vi, 1^.57, 84, pi. 26.— Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 578.— Hjbekm., P. E. E. 

 Eep. X, 1859, pt. vi, 54.— Coop., B. Cal. 1, 1870, 295. 



Cleptes nuttallii, Ga.mb., Journ. Phila. Acad, i, 1847, 46. 



Pica melanoleuca var. nuttallii, Codes, Key, 1872, 164. 



Pica caudata var. nuitalUi, B. B. & E., N. A. B. ii, 1874, 270, pi. 38, f. 2. 



Hah. — Western and Northern North America. Eastward occasionally to Lake Su- 

 perior and Hudson's Bay (liiehardson). Western Kansas (Pond) and Iowa (Cones) to 

 the Pacific. Alaska (DaH). Breeds in mountains of New Mexico (Coues). Yav-niMalHi 

 in California, apparently to the exclusion of the normal form. The typical form in 

 Europe. 



List of specimens. 



lieutenant Wai-ren's Expedition. — 4547, 5196, Fort Pierre; 5193, Eunning Water; 5197, 

 Great Bend, Missouri Eiver ; 5198, Fort Berthold; 5194-95,5199, Fort Eandall; 9060, 

 Fork of Cheyenne Eiver; 9057-5 8-.59, 9062-63, 9067, Black Hills. 



. Late)' Expediiions. —5i320, 60459-60, 60314-16, 61074-81, 61155, various Wyoming 

 localities ; 61780, Idaho. 



In ascending the Missouri I saw the first Magpie near Sioux City, 

 Iowa, a point immediately on the border of its eastward dispersion. 

 Mr. Trippe does not include the species in his Minnesota list, nor does 

 Dr. Head, United States Army, mention it among the birds of Fort 

 Ripley, in that State. Prof. Snow includes it among Kansas birds, 

 stating that it has been seen in Shawnee County. Mr. Allen found it 

 in the mountains of Colorado, up to at least 11,000 feet, and elsewhere 

 in the West. Further south, Dr. Kennerly informs us that he met with 

 it soon after crossing the Rio Grande, and saw it from time to time on 

 his journey thence into California. But in following almost in Dr. Ken- 

 neriy's tracks through part of K'ew Mexico and most of Arizona, I did 

 not meet with a single one, and must conclude that it is rare in that 

 region. I, however, found it breeding east of the Rio Grande, in the 

 Raton Mountains, in June. A nest that I there found in a dense thicket 

 was a large globular mass, about eighteen inches in diameter, suspended 

 in a thick bush about ten feet high. Its walls were composed of closely- 

 interlaced twigs, and very thick, leaving but a small cavity, the en- 

 trance to which was a hole in one side, large enough to admit the hand. 

 The lining was -a little dried grass. The nest contained six young ones, 

 nearly ready to fly — a fact that disposes of one of the alleged distinct- 

 ive characters of the American as compared with the European Mag- 

 pie, namely, that it has but two young. The eggs measure from 1.40 to 

 l.UO in length by about 0.90 in breadth ; the ground-color dull pale 

 bluish or greenish, sometimes merely grayish-white, thickly marked all 

 over with spots and dots of several shades of olive-brown and clearer 

 brown, with neutral-tint and pale-purplish or lavender shell-markings. 



Mr. Aiken describes a somewhat dift'erently built nest : " The nest, 

 which is quite a curious structure, is usually placed in a small scrubby 

 tree, about ten feet from the ground. They commence to build about 

 the last of March, and the eggs are laid two or three weeks later. The 

 foundation of the nest is of twigs, firmly cemented with mud. On this 

 is placed the nest proper, which is composed of finer twigs, plastered 

 with mud, and lined with rootlets. Outside of this a wall of dead twigs 

 is built up from the foundation, and arched over at the top, the whole 

 structure forming a rounded mass from one to three (!) feet in diameter. 



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