SENEGAL MAGPIE. 



described under the name of the Senegal Magpie, and figured in his 

 coloured plates. No. 538 ; but I think that the individual, which served 

 as a pattern for the engraver, and from which Buffon wrote his descrip- 

 tion, was a young bird, that had not attained its full development, for 

 its tail is neither of sufficient length nor sufficiently wedge-shaped ; and, 

 according to the indication of Buffon, his bird not only appears smaller, 

 but has more brown on the tail and wings. Such characteristics, 

 indeed, are perfectly conformable to the piapiac in its young age, and 

 add force to my opinion, that the Senegal and Namaqua magpie belong 

 to the same species. As this bird, therefore, is not found exclusively 

 in Senegal, I considered myself at liberty to bestow on it a different 

 name, which is far more appropriate, and ought to be adopted, on 

 account of its resemblance to the tones of its cry, and which it repeats 

 as distinctly as we can pronounce it. 



These magpies perch at the top of lofty trees, where they sometimes 

 assemble in small companies, consisting of twenty individuals. The 

 tail is much longer in the males ; it is even longer than that of our 

 European magpie, and is strongly wedge-shaped, but as its quills are 

 narrower, and exceedingly pointed, it is consequently not so broad. 



This bird, although as long as our magpie, is, moreover, more slender 

 in its body ; it is, besides, more rapid in its flight, as the wing-quills 

 are proportionally shorter. 



The piapiac, like our magpies, builds its nest at the top of the loftiest 

 trees, fortifies it strongly with thorns, and leaves only a hole for its 

 admission into the interior. Its eggs, which are from six to eight in 

 number, are of a bluish white, besprinkled with brown spots, which are 

 larger and more numerous at the thick end. The savages declared to 

 me that these birds arrived only at certain periods of the year, in the 

 canton in which I discovered them. It is singular that, possessed of 

 such strength and rapidity of flight, they have not penetrated into 

 countries which are situated much nearer to the Cape, and have not, in 

 fact, reached so far as the borders of the Great River, where, at least, 

 I never heard or saw any of them. 



This magpie is entirely of a glossy black, paler on the belly than 

 upon the back ; the primary wing-quills, and the lateral tail-quills, 

 have a brownish tinge. The legs and bill are of a pure black, as in our 

 European magpie, and the eyes hazel brown. The female is abso- 

 lutely similar to the male, except that she is rather smaller, and her 

 tail shorter. 



In the splendid cabinet of M. Ray de Breukelerwaard, of Amsterdam, 



