. I 'M ' A H i K >: .i H .
T A B . X L II I .
PICA SINENSIS.
T h is species of Pie, which lias already been made knoivn by the researches of Major-General Hardwicke,
unlike the re st o f its congeners whose local distribution is not greatly e.xtendccl, inhabits tracts of land widely
differing from each other both in character and situation,—the iiighcr portions of the Himalaya, the plains
and low countries around those mountaius, and the kingdom of China from whence it derives its specific
name, being alike its places o f residence. Like the P ic a tu g u h u n d a (to wlucli it is closely allleil,) and a thirtl
species lately received from Madras, it possesses characters differing considerably from those o f the typical
Pie ce , and which appear to warrant its sejiaration, in conjunction with the two allied species, from the genus to
wliich they have hitherto been referred among the Corvidce.
Like the rest of the family, the se.xual differences in plumage throughout this group arc trifling or none ;
the females, however, are less tlian the males.
The forehead is black ; the occijiut and back o f the neck grey ; the back light brown ; the wings black, as
arc also the tail-feathers, except the two middle which are grey ; the checks and the tliroat are blackish, fading
into a smoke colonr on the b re a st; the iiiidcr jiarts dull grey ; the under tail-coverts light rufous ; the beak
and tarsi black.
Length, 15 inche s: beak, 1-]-; tarsi, I j - ; tail, including the two middle feathers, 10.
T he bird is figured o f the natural size.