99 



Genus II.— PICA, Briss. MAGPIE. 



Bill of moderate length, stout, considerably compressed; upper mandible 

 with the dorsal line declinate and arched, the sides convex, the ridge narrow, 

 the edges nearly straight and overlapping, the notches faint, the tip declinate, 

 and rather sharp; lower mandible with the angle rather long and wide, the 

 dorsal line ascending and slightly convex, the edges inclinate, the tip narrow. 

 Nostrils basal, lateral, roundish, covered by narrow stiff feathers directed 

 forwards. Head large, ovate; neck rather short; body compact. Legs of 

 moderate length, strong; tarsus stout, compressed, with eight scutella; toes 

 of moderate length, stout, first large, stronger; lateral nearly equal, third 

 considerably longer. Claws strong, arched, compressed, acute. Plumage 

 full, soft, blended. Wings of moderate length, much rounded, the first quill 

 very short, extremely narrow and falciform, fourth and fifth longest. Tail 

 very long, graduated. Digestive organs as in Corvus. 



THE COMMON MAGPIE. 



-f Pica Melanoleuca, Vieill. 



PLATE CCXXVII.— Male and Female. 



Although Magpies are abundant in the north-western portions of the 

 United States, and are met with as far north as the Saskatchewan river, 

 where, according to Dr. Richardson, some of them spend the winter, none 

 have yet been seen nearer the shores of the Atlantic than the head waters of 

 the Red river in Louisiana, where they were seen in abundance by the 

 lamented Colonel Pike, then a lieutenant in the United States' army. His 

 notice, although already published by Wilson, so well describes the habits 

 of this species, that I repeat it here with pleasure. "Our horses," he says, 



