THE HOODED RACKET-TAILED MAGPIE. 405 
Length 13 inches_, tail 8_, wing 4' 6, tarsus 1*1^ bill from gape 1. The 
female is of about the same size. 
The Black Racket-tailed Magpie has not yet been observed in any portion 
of Arrakan. In Pegu it is rare at Prome^ and I have only once observed 
it in the Thayetmyo district, but from Prome southwards it becomes com- 
moner till Thonsay is reached ; from this point it is abundant over the 
whole of Lower Pegu, extending on the west to Bassein, where it was 
observed by Mr. Blanford, and on the south down to the sea. It extends 
all the way up the Sittang valley to Tonghoo. East of the Sittang, among 
the hills, it appears to be rare till Pahpoon is reached. From this place to 
Mergui it occurs, according to Mr. Davison, in greater or less abundance ; 
but it has not been observed south of Mergui. It appears to be entirely 
absent from the Malay peninsula ; but Count Salvadori records it with 
doubt from Malacca, and Lord Tweeddale from the northern portion of 
the Province Wellesley. Mr. Blyth states that it occurs in Lower Siara, 
and Dr. Tiraud notes that it is very common in Cochin China. It has 
been met with in South-east Sumatra,, in the south of Borneo, and in Java. 
This handsome little Magpie is found in all descriptions of jungle except 
in the larger forests. It is most abundant in gardens, secondary jungle 
and bamboo-brakes, going about singly or in pairs and feeding principally 
on large insects, for which it searches the foliage of trees^ never descending 
to the ground. 
The breeding-season lasts from May to July. The nest, which is cup- 
shaped, is constructed of small twigs and the tendrils of creepers, and is 
placed either on a branch of a bamboo or else in a thorny bush. The eggs 
are generally three in number^ and are whitish, marked with ashy and 
yellowish brown. 
377. CRYPSIEHINA CUCULLATA. 
THE HOODED RACKET-TAILED MAGPIE. 
Crypsirhina cucuUata, Je7'd. Ibis, 1862, p. 20 j Huine, S. F. iii, p. 147 ; Bl. B. 
Burm. p. 88 ; iSharpe, Cat. Birds B. Mus. iii. p. 84 ; Wardlaw Ramsay^ Ibis, 
1877, p. 459 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 100. 
Description. — Male and female. The whole head, chin and throat black; 
round the neck, next to the black, a collar of ashy white ; the whole upper 
plumage, wing-coverts and tertiaries vinaceous grey ; lower plumage the 
same, but rather more rufous ; central tail-feathers black, the others the 
same colour as the back ; primaries and their coverts black ; secondaries 
black, broadly edged with ashy white. 
The young hdiYe the head brown; the central tail-feathers and wings are 
