THE BIRD BOOK 
CROWS, JAYS, MAGPIES, ETC. Family CORVID AL 
475. Magpie, Pica pica hudsonia. 
Range— Western North America from the 
Great Plains to the Pacific and from Alaska 
to Arizona and New Mexico. 
These large handsome birds have the entire 
head, neck and breast velvety black, abruptly 
defined against the 
white underparts. 
The back, wings and 
tail are greenish or 
bluish black, and the 
scapulars, white; 
length of bird 20 
inches. They are well 
known throughout 
the west, where their Grayish white 
bold and thievish habits always excite com- 
ment. They nest in bushes and trees at low- 
elevations from the ground, making a very 
large nest of sticks, with an opening on the 
side, and the interior is made of weeds and 
mud, lined with fine grasses; these nests often 
reach a diameter of three feet and are made of 
quite large sticks. During April or May, they lay from four to eight grayish 
white eggs, plentifully spotted with brown and drab. Size 1.25 x .90. 
476. Yellow-billed Magpie. Pica nuttalli. 
Range. — Middle parts of California, west of the 
Sierra Nevadas. 
This species is slightly smaller than the last and 
has a yellowish bill and lores, otherwise being pre- 
cisely like the more common species. Their habits 
do not differ from those of the other, the nests are 
the same and the eggs are indistinguishable. Size 
1.25 x .88. 
Grayish white 
300 
