BIRDS — COEVIDAE — PICA HUDSONICUS. 577 



Sp. Ch — Bill and naked skin behind the eye, black. General color black. The belly, scapulars, and inner webs of the 

 primaries white ; hind part of back grayish; exposed portion of the tail feathers glossy green, tinged with purple and violet 

 near the end ; wings glossed with green ; the secondaries and tertials with blue ; throat feathers spotted with white. Length, 

 19.00; wing, 8.50; tail, 11.00. 



Hab. — The Arctic regions of North America. The United States from the High Central Plains to the Pacific, north of 

 California . 



The tail feathers are hrilliant lustrous" green, interrupted, howevier, a few inches from the tip 

 by a shade of golden, which passes into violet, then into hluish, the extreme tip greenish again. 

 This prevails on both webs of the middle feathers, but on the others is confined to the outer ; 

 the inner webs dull blackish, with a shade of indigo. On the wings the prevailing shade is a 

 beautiful blue on the exposed surfaces, this color margining the greenish of the secondaries 

 rather abruptly. 



Bill and feet black. Head and neck all round, fore part of breast, interscapular region, rump, 

 base of the tail all round, under wing coverts, axillars, and tibia, dull black, with a shade 

 of very dark blue^ except the interscapular patch, which is greenish. Feathers of the hood 

 stiffened, and tipped with metallic greenish. Under parts, inner web of primaries, (except at 

 tips,) scapulars, and tips of the feathers on the hind part of the back, white. Bases of the 

 feathers on the middle of the throat with a spot of white. Wings and tail glossy green, the 

 latter tinged subterminally with purple, violet, and golden, the latter glossed with blue. 



Exposed portion of the first primary falcate, half as long as that of the second ; fifth quill 

 longest ; second between eighth and ninth. Tail much graduated ; lateral feather rather more 

 than half the longest, 5.25 inches shorter than the longest ; the tips about equidistant, except that 

 of the terminal one, which is about one and a half times more remote from the penultimate. 



The American magpie is very closely related to the European, but differs in a much longer 

 tail, and in the white spots on the feathers of the throat. The voice and habits are said to be 

 entirely different.^ 



' In an elaborate article on the American magpie in Cabanis' Journal fiir Ornithologie, Prince Maximilian takes strong ground 

 in relation to its specific distinction from the European species, and sums up the argument as follows : 



1 . The American magpie is the larger . 



2. Its iris has a grayish blue outer ring, while that of the European magpie is altogether dark. 



3. The bill of the American bird is proportionally larger and thicker. 



4. The feathers on the lower neck are spotted with white in the American bird, while they are entirely black in the European. 



5 . The voice is totally distinct in the two . 



6. The American bird has but two young. 



7. The eggs are differently formed, and a little differently oolored. 



June 30, 1858. 



73 b 



