MAGPIE (Pica pica hudsonia). 



Length, from about 18 to 21 inches. The black 

 head and body and the white belly, white wing 

 patches, and long tail are distinguishing features. 

 The yellow-billed magpie is smaller with a yellow bill. 



Range: A characteristic western species. Breeds 

 from Aleutian Islands and Alaska, central Alberta, 

 southern Saskatchewan and Winnipeg Lake south 

 to northern Arizona and New Mexico, and from the 

 Cascades and Sierra to western North Dakota and 

 western Texas; resident. 



There are two species of magpies, the yellow- 

 billed being confined to California, where it is very 

 local. In general the habits of the two are similar. 

 "Maggie," as this bird is familiarly known in the 

 west, possesses dual traits. He is beautiful of 

 plumage and adds much to the interest of the land- 

 scape as he flies from field to field, his long tail ex- 

 tending behind like a rudder. 



Of eminently sociable disposition, this bird is 

 rarely seen alone. He prefers flocks of family 

 size to 50 and upwards. In more ways than one the 

 magpie is like the crow and his sagacity has de- 

 veloped along much the same lines. In most locali- 

 ties he is suspicious and wary, as he has good cause 

 to be, for he is not a favorite with either farmer or 

 ranchman. He is eminently carnivorous, a carrion 

 feeder by preference, an insect eater by necessity, 

 and he performs good service in the latter role. 

 He eats also many wild fruits and berries, but he is 

 an incorrigible thief and well he knows his way to 

 the poultry yard. No sound is sweeter in " Maggie's" 

 ears than the cackle of the exultant hen that has 

 just laid an egg, and the hen house must be well 

 protected that keeps him from his plunder. Per- 

 haps his worst trait, however, is his fondness for the 

 eggs and nestlings of small birds. 



PHCEBE (Sayornis phcebe). 



Length, about 7 inches. Distinguishing marks 

 are the dusky brown color, dark brown cap and white 

 margined outer tail feathers. 



Range: Lives mainly in the east. Breeds from 

 about middle Canada south to northeastern New 

 Mexico, central Texas, northern Mississippi and 

 mountains of Georgia; winters from south of lati- 

 tude 37° to southern Mexico. 



Few of our birds have won a more secure place 

 in our hearts than plain little phcebe, who has no 

 pretentions to beauty of plumage or excellence of 

 song. For this its confiding disposition and trust- 

 ing ways are responsible, and many a farmer listens 

 for its familiar voice in early spring and welcomes it 

 back to its accustomed haunts under the old barn. 

 Originally building its nest on the face of cliffs, the 

 phcebe soon forsook the wilds for man's neighbor- 

 hood, and year after year apparently the same pair 

 returns to the identical rafter in the barn, the 

 shelter of the porch, or the same nook under the foot 

 bridge, which they have claimed for their own for 

 many seasons. The insistent call of "phcebe — 

 phcebe " is as familiar as the pipe of the robin. 



The phcebe has further claims to the favor of man 

 since it is one of the most useful of birds, living almost 

 wholly on insects, among which are many noxious 

 kinds, as May beetles, click beetles, and several 

 species of weevils, including the boll weevil and the 

 strawberry weevil. As if reluctant to leave their 

 northern home, many phcebes remain with us till 

 late fall, and individuals may be seen lingering in 

 sheltered places in the woods long after other fly- 

 catchers have started for the tropics. 



BLUE-FRONTED JAY (Cyanocitta stelleri and 



sub-species) . 



Length, llf to 13 inches. Easily distinguished 

 from its fellows by its high crest, brownish slaty 

 fore-parts, dark blue wings and tail and blue or 

 whitish streaks on forehead. 



Range: Resident in western North America from 

 southern Alaska and Montana to Mexico. 



The blue-fronted jays, of which the Steller jay 

 may be taken as the type, are common inhabitants 

 of the piny woods of both the Rocky Mountain and 

 the Sierra Nevada States. They are among the 

 handsomest of the family, the beauty of their plum- 

 age, their long erectile crests, and their insistent 

 voices compelling the attention of any who invade 

 their retreats. Not being residents of cultivated 

 districts, although they eat grain and small fruits, 

 they do comparatively little damage. On the other 

 hand, they do not do much good, for, although they 

 are insect eaters, insects do not constitute a large 

 part of their food, nor are the kinds they eat very 

 important economically. Probably their most 

 serious fault is a fondness for the eggs and young of 

 small insectivorous birds of which they destroy 

 many in the course of the year. They share this 

 failing with all other members of the family, and 

 bird lovers must deem it a pity that such bold, dash- 

 ing, handsome birds as the jays should be so de- 

 structive to small but useful birds. This habit is 

 all the more to be deplored inasmuch as when un- 

 molested jays readily respond to invitations to be 

 neighborly, and willingly take up their abode near 

 houses, where they never fail to excite admiration 

 and interest. 



WOOD PEWEE (Myiochanes virens). 



Length, about 6^ inches. Not readily distin- 

 guished by color, though darker than most other 

 small flycatchers, and with wing longer than tail. 



Range: Breeds from Manitoba and southeastern 

 Canada to southern Texas and central Florida; 

 winters in Central and South America. 



The wood pewee is clad in such modest garb and 

 is of such retiring disposition that, were it not for 

 its voice, it would often be passed unnoticed even by 

 the most observant, especially as its home is in 

 shaded glens or deep woods. Here the wood pewee 

 pursues its vocation with a vigor worthy of all praise, 

 and the snap of its mandibles as they close over 

 some luckless flying insect is often the only sound 

 heard in the depths of the quiet forest. There is 

 little about the habits and make-up of this, or indeed 

 of any of the flycatchers, to suggest great construc- 

 tive skill, but the nest of the wood pewee is a marvel 

 of taste and ingenuity and, though much larger, sug- 

 gests the dainty architecture of our hummingbirds. 

 Like their fairy creations the wood pewees' nest is 

 covered with lichens and saddled neatly across a 

 limb. 



The food of this flycatcher consists almost ex- 

 clusively of insects and includes among others crane 

 flies, beetles, dragon flies, ants, grasshoppers, cater- 

 pillars and moths of many kinds. It also devours 

 such pests as the clover weevil, the plum curculio, 

 the corn weevil, the rice weevil, and others nearly 

 as harmful, and many flies, including the house fly. 



510 



