The Yellcw-billed Magpie. 607 
THE YELLOW-BILLED MAGPIE. 
k BY BARTON W. EVERMANN. 
URING two years spent in Ventura county, Southern Cali- 
fornia, I became quite familiar with this handsome yet noisy 
bird of plebeian tastes. The yellow-billed species seems to be 
restricted in its range to California, throughout which State it is 
locally abundant. ; i 
One of the great industries of Southern California is wool- 
growing; the valleys and hillsides are covered with flocks of 
sheep, from a score to several thousands in number; and nearly 
every cañon has its corral to which the herder and his faithful 
dog drive the flocks at eventide. Here they are shut up and 
guarded through the night. In the morning .they are again’ 
turned loose to feed upon the burr clover, alfillarilla (or “ fillareé ”), 
and such other stuff as can cause only sheep and mules to thrive. 
In and about these corrals are various kinds of filth—carcasses 
of sheep that have died of disease or starvation, bodies of dea 
lambs and the refuse of the sheep which the herder has slaugh- 
q tered for his own larder, for jerked mutton and tortillas constitute 
b the chief part of his meager bill-of-fare. Such a place as this is 
4 à paragon of restaurants to the magpies, Here they can be found 
‘in the early Morning, in the evening, and at any other time of 
day when they happen to be hungry. Here they come to feed 
upon the filth, keeping up an almost incessant chattering, crying 
and scolding, which if translated into intelligible English would 
certainly bristle with oaths and slang. For there, where the 
glish sparrow has not yet found its way, the magpie represents 
the “hoodlum element” in bird society. But when the English — 
Sparrow invades its domain, the magpie will become, by compari- ` 
on, a most estimable member of the avian fauna of that region. 
Almost any cañon which has a considerable sheep corral and _ 
Supplied with a few scattered clumps of live oaks, cottonwoods _ 
_ ® sycamores, is quite sure to have its colony of magpies.s And = 
_ When you enter one of these cañons you are apt to know oftheir 
Presence long before you come within gunshot of them, unless 
““Y, as is sometimes their custom, remain quiet and hidden until 
_ You are near them, when they open fire upon you with volleys of — 
nn, imprecations and maledictions, which nothing but a charge _ 
__ of shot will stop, : : a 
is 
ETA 
