99 
Genus II.— PICA, Briss. MAGPIE. 
Bill of moderate length, stout, considerably compressed ; upper mandible 
with the dorsal line declinate and arched, the sides convex, the ridge narrow, 
the edges nearly straight and overlapping, the notches faint, the tip declinate, 
and rather sharp ; lower mandible with the angle rather long and wide, the 
dorsal line ascending and slightly convex, the edges inclinate, the tip narrow. 
Nostrils basal, lateral, roundish, covered by narrow stiff feathers directed 
forwards. Head large, ovate ; neck rather short ; body compact. Legs 
of moderate length, strong ; tarsus stout, compressed, with eight scutella ; 
toes of moderate length, stout, first large, stronger ; lateral nearly equal, 
third considerably longer. Claws strong, arched, compressed, acute. 
Plumage full, soft, blended. Wings of moderate length, much rounded, the 
first quill very short, extremely narrow, and falciform, fourth and fifth 
longest Tail very long, graduated. Digestive organs as in Corvus. 
THE COMMON MAGPIE. 
Pica Melanoleuca, Vieill. 
PLATE CCXXVII. — Male and Female. 
Although Magpies are abundant in the north-western portions of the 
United States, and are met with as far north as the Saskatchewan river, 
where, according to Dr. Richardson, some of them spend the winter, none 
have yet been seen nearer the shores of the Atlantic than the head waters of 
the Red river in Louisiana, where they were seen in abundance by the 
lamented Colonel Pike, then a lieutenant in the United States’ army. Hie 
notice, although already published by Wilson, so well describes the habits 
of this species, that I repeat it here with pleasure. “ Our horses,” he says, 
