The Yellow-billed Magpie 



The Black-billed Magpie winters practically throughout its breeding 

 range. In the fall, however, it gathers into flocks, sometimes of quite 

 considerable size. Such flocks, dependent upon the food supply, range 

 widely, and as a result may be said to indulge in irregular migratory 

 movements. Flock movements are sometimes performed with a un- 

 animity of impulse akin to that of Sandpipers, and the sight of say fifty 

 Magpies, black-and-white wings a-flutter and long tails streaming, 

 slewing and tacking with the wind, is indeed a memorable one. 



Wherever permitted, the Magpie becomes a faithful pensioner of 

 the slaughter house. Stock men take advantage of the birds' weakness 

 for meat, and assail them with shot-gun or poison. The birds learn to be 

 wary of both, but between these attacks and the annual raiding of the 

 nesting grounds, it is perfectly possible to clear the Magpies out of a 

 given range. The first discovery of a "fallen hero " by one of his comrades 

 is the invariable signal for a noisy wake. The clan is summoned by 

 sharp cries, and the members assemble from far and near in quick re- 

 sponse. Now one and now another hops up cautiously to view the 

 remains, while all make strident cries which voice their undying indig- 

 nation at man's cruelty. And, indeed, now that we think of it, what 

 is the use in trying to reduce the varied offspring of nature to one dead 

 level of mediocrity! If all birds were good little dickey birds, and said 

 tweet tweet with pious uniformity, some men, now saintly, would un- 

 doubtedly be moved to profane utterance. Here, then, is a toast to the 

 Magpie, cheerful, lovable devil of a bird that he is! 



No. 6 



Yellow-billed Magpie 



A. O. U. No. 476. Pica nuttalli (Audubon). 



Synonym. — California Magpie. 



Description. — Exactly similar in body coloration to Pica pica hudsonia, but bill 

 and bare orbital space yellow and smaller. Length 406.4-457.2 (16.00-18.00); wing 

 l8 7-5 (7-38); tail 238 (9.37); bill 31 (1.22); length at nostril 12.5 (.49); tarsus 48 (1.89). 



Recognition Marks. — Black-and-white coloration; long tail; yellow bill. 



Remarks. — The bright yellow bare skin below and behind eye and on the sides 

 of the throat is a conspicuous feature of nestling birds, showing that the distinguishing 

 characters of this bird are long established. 



Nesting. — Nest: Much as in preceding; a sturdy sphere of interlaced twigs, 

 penetrated obscurely by hole giving access to contained hemisphere of mud or dried 

 cowdung; deeply cupped and cushioned with rootlets, or, rarely, horsehair; placed 

 in trees at any height, chiefly in white oaks and cottonwoods. Eggs: 5-7, rarely 8, or 

 even 9; yellowish glaucous or pale olive-buff, finely and rather uniformly speckled and 



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