CROW TRIBE. 
3i5 
that he has seen nests on the poles in 
front of a mandarin’s house, and in the 
crown of a cocoa - nut palm. The eggs, 
from five to seven in number, are bluish 
white, with greenish brown or brownish 
spots. A nonmigrant, as a rule, and fre¬ 
quenting open rather than forest districts, 
the magpie affords excellent sport before 
the hawk, Sebright stating that “ it is far 
superior to every other kind of hawking. 
The object of the chase is fully a match 
for its pursuers — a requisite absolutely 
necessary to give an interest to any sport 
of this kind, and it has the advantage 
of giving full employment to the company, 
which is not the case in partridge-hawking. 
A down or common where low trees or thorn bushes are dis¬ 
persed at distances of from thirty to fifty yards apart, is the 
place best calculated for this diversion. When a magpie is seen 
at a distance, a hawk is immediately to be cast off. The magpie will take refuge 
in a bush the moment he sees a falcon, and will remain there until the falconer 
arrives, with the hawk waiting on in the air. The magpie is to be driven from his 
retreat, and the hawk if at a good pitch will stoop at him as he passes to another 
bush, from whence he has to be driven in the same way, another hawk having 
been previously cast off, so that one or the other may always be so situated as to 
attack him with advantage. Four or five assistants besides the falconer are 
required for this sport. The magpie will always endeavour to make his way to 
some strong cover; care therefore must be taken to counteract him and to drive 
him to that part of the ground where the bushes are farthest from each other.” 
Azure winged The azure-winged magpie (Cyanopica cooki), on account of certain 
Magpies. differences, is regarded as representing a genus apart from the typical 
pies; and is one of the handsomest of European birds. In colour, the head and 
upper part of the neck are coal-black, the back and mantle brownish grey, the 
throat greyish white, the under-parts light fawn grey, and the wings and tail 
light greenish blue. This bird is selected for notice on account of the remark¬ 
able geographical distribution of the genus to which it belongs. Thus the typical 
azure-winged magpie is confined to certain districts of Spain and Portugal, 
where it is far from common, and very local, breeding in small colonies, and 
