CROWS, MAGPIES AND JAYS 



67 



AMERICAN MAGPIE (Pica pica hud- 

 sonia) 



In 1927, under the direction of the State au- 

 thorities of Montana, 25,269 magpies were killed 

 and 18,071 of their eggs destroyed. Nothing, 

 perhaps, can more forcefully illustrate the popu- 

 lar dislike for this bird throughout the cattle- 

 and sheep-raising districts of the Far West than 

 the fact that ranchmen are willing to pay for its 

 destruction. 



Despite the constant warfare made on the 

 handsome black-billed magpie, its numbers seem 

 not to decrease, except locally, and then only for 

 a time. When its enemies become weary of the 

 ' seemingly hopeless task of exterminating it and 

 relinquish their efforts, the birds are soon about 

 the country in their usual numbers. 



The reason for the rural westerner's dislike is 

 that the magpie persistently destroys the eggs 

 and young of wild birds, and hunters deplore the 

 destruction of game birds by any wild creature 

 which they class as "vermin." Magpies kill young 

 chickens and eat hen's eggs when they can find 

 them. They will gather about a sickly sheep or 

 a cow, or the newborn young of either, and kill 

 it by their pecking. They attack newly branded 

 stock and freshly sheared sheep. 



At times, and in some localities, these propen- 

 sities render them extremely annoying. How- 

 ever, Mr. Kalmbach well points out : "As in most, 

 if not all, problems of bird control, the real need 

 for drastic action against the magpie is confined 

 to local areas where one or another of its faults 

 has become unduly emphasized." 



Over the greater part of the magpies' range 

 they appear only in moderate numbers. They are 

 great scavengers, and with the ravens, and in 

 some regions with the vultures, they help to rid 

 the countryside of offensive carcasses. They 

 clean up scraps of meat and offal about places 

 where stock is butchered. They flock about In- 

 dian villages or encampments where little effort 

 is made by men to dispose of offensive refuse. 

 Magpies eat grasshoppers that consume ^ the 

 grass, which is scanty enough in many regions. 

 They destroy countless weevils, caterpillars, and 

 grubs and kill a certain number of noxious 

 rodents. 



The magpie, therefore, i? not wholly bad. It 

 is a comfort to one interested in the conservation 

 of all wild life to reflect that its range is so great 

 over vast, thinly settled sections and its fecundity 

 so pronounced, that we may expect this striking 

 species to live and prosper for years to come. 



The magpie is a very noisy bird and is con- 

 tinually chattering about something. Mr. Hen- 

 shaw, speaking of the flexibility and the range 

 of its voice, said that it runs "from a guttural 

 chuckle to the softest whistle." The bird is imi- 

 tative, and here and there magpie pets learn to 

 imitate the human voice in a highly entertaining 

 manner. 



The nest is a bulky, domed affair of twigs, 

 built in trees. It contains a mud cup lined with 

 rootlets. Mrs. Bailey speaks of certain old nests 

 which "were much in demand for roof-trees by 

 English sparrows, and to a less degree by house 

 finches." 



This species ranges from Alaska and Manitoba 

 to New Mexico. 



YELLOW-BILLED MAGPIE (Pica nut- 

 talli) 



The yellow-billed magpie is a little smaller 

 than the American, or black-billed magpie, but 

 the difference in size is very slight. The birds 

 are exactly alike in appearance, except that one 

 has a black beak and tlie other has a yellow one 

 and also a bit of yellow skin back of the eye. 



The difference in the distribution of these two 

 species constitutes one of the amazing and un- 

 explained problems in the field of ornithology. 

 Closely related subspecies of the black-billed form 

 are found in northern Africa, Spain, northern 

 Europe, northern Asia, China, and western 

 North America. The race occurs over the 

 greater part of the Northern Hemisphere. On 

 the other hand, the yellow-billed magpie is con- 

 fined to less than half of the area of California. 

 Why is one restricted to such a limited region 

 and the other so widely distributed? This is a 

 problem for evolutionists and geologists. 



The yellow-billed magpie may represent a very 

 ancient race that is dying out. Since scientific 

 interest has been directed toward the observation 

 of its habits and distribution, it has been dis- 

 covered that its range has become more re- 

 stricted. There are reports that fifty or sixty 

 years ago it was a common bird in many places 

 in the immediate vicinity of the coast, where the 

 observer would now look for it in vain. It in- 

 habits only the interior of the State west of the 

 Sierra Nevada, from Tehama County to Ventura 

 and Kern counties, and chiefly in the Sacra- 

 mento and San Joaquin valleys. 



It haunts the neighborhood of stock ranches, 

 because food to its liking is usually plentiful in 

 such places. When cattle and sheep are butch- 

 ered, the refuse attracts magpies. They gather 

 about any animal which accident or disease has 

 killed. They feed also on grasshoppers, worms, 

 and grubs to be found in certain places, and, of 

 course, always consider the possibilities of a 

 reasonable supply of eggs of birds or of poultry. 



The nest is a bulky, roughly rounded structure 

 consisting of a great mass of twigs. In this is 

 built a deep cup of mud or cow dung. The lining 

 is of rootlets, pine needles, dry grass, shreds of 

 Cottonwood bark, and sometimes horsehair. 

 Egress is through a passageway in the side. 

 An opening in the opposite direction admits of 

 swift exit if danger threatens at the front. 



These rude cradles for the young are often 

 placed in oak trees from 10 to 60 feet above the 

 ground. Sycamores, willows, and cottonwoods 

 are some of the other trees chosen for nesting 

 purposes. Small colonies of these magpies are 

 sometimes seen, but more often a single pair, 

 with its nest, is found in some secluded gulch or 

 out-of-the-way corner of the ranch. The nest 

 may be cunningly hidden among clumps of mistle- 

 toe or it may be placed in such an open situation 

 that it can be seen from a considerable distance. 



These birds become much attached to a locality 

 and will return year after year to build their 

 nests in the immediate vicinity of the domicile 

 used the previous spring. Often a pair will make 

 use of the same tree and at times even build the 

 new nest on top of an old one. 



The five to seven yellowish or olive eggs are 

 covered with spots of brown or grayish olive. 



