that we would not shoot many. Holes are out in many of
their buildings for the admission of some, and pieces of wood
are nailed up against them to, support the nests! of others.
A t Christmas, that the birds may share their' festivities and
enjoyments, they place a sheaf o£ corn at the end of their,
houses.”
Fynes Morysbn, who wrote a short account of Iceland
about 1602, states, “ We have here no chattering. Pie but
Sir William Hooker, in his tour in* 1809, remarks that a
tradition -in Iceland says, the Magpie was imported itita that
country by the English out.of spite.
Our Magpie is a native of the United Statesmand North
America fronq Louisiana* to the Fur-countries,*f* it .,@m!sts;i?n
the Rocky Mountains!- also, and has-been. found in' that
direction as far as Kamtsehatka. r-
To return to the ceUtral portions # 6 -Europe: the" Magpie
is there common* Southward, it is-'found in?rSpain,_ Pro-:
vence, Italy, the Morea,: Smyrna, Aleppo} in the country
between the Black and the Caspian seas, in the.southern-
part of Russia and Siberia..' Eastward from theRCe; though
it has not beeu found, I believe, iff India, it exists in China
and in Japan. In the northern hemisphere -of] tmP globe,,
therefore, the longitudinal range of the Magpie gig» very
extensive"/ •
The beak is black; the irides hazel; the head, neck,-back,
and upper taif-coverts, Jet black ; rump greyish whiter; the
scapulars pure white; wingreoverts and tertials of a fine
shining b lu e ; the primaries black, with an elongated patch
of pure white .on the inner web of each of the first ten feathers ;
the tail graduated, the outside feather on each side not ex-,
ceeding five inches in.length, the middle ones nearly eleven
inches long; in colour beautifully iridescent, with blue and
purple near the end, and green from thence to The. base.
* Audubon. f Richardson. f Nuttall.
Chin and. throat black, the shafts of some of the feathers
shining greyish white-; upper part of the breast black; the
lower, part -of; the breast, the belly, sides, and flanks, pure
white ,; under tail-coverts , black ; under surface of tail-feathers
mniform dull black;■ thighs, leg^^pes, and claws, black.
The wheliilength of an adult jftialfe is full,eighteen inches,
o f^ iip h the longest tail-feathers measure nearly eleven inches.
The wm*g 'from the carpal joint to, the end of the longest
primary,-seven i^ ^M a n d one quarter: the first feather only
Two inches and a- half long; the, second about one inch
^shprter than the- third ; the fourth, fifth, and sixth feathers
nearly ^<®al in^Mngth, but the fifth is. rather the longest.
The wing, Tt- will be<bbser*yed',^is shorter and less pointed
than that-of the true Crows, and the flight of the bird is dif-
®qjent^mf vibrations are qu£ek, are given in rapid succession,
anap p aren tly with more.»effort* On the .ground this "bird
^ o g ^ e ^ ^ e itle ^ jb ^ walking or hoppings
~The female- is smaller in size,, the tail is shorter-, and the
-plumage le^i brilliant*;/?
kippecimens varying in, the colour of their plumage occur
^occasionally.
Malformations,.of the beak, similar to that represented in
,the.vigne% -at page 90', arid'Still further approaching the
form of A mandibles in the true Crossbills, have occurred in
the Magpie| and Mr. John Blackwall, in his published Researches
in. Zoology, page 173,,. notices a similar instance .{in
the Jackdaw. This- specimen;, now deposited in the Museum
ibf the Society established in Manchester for the promotion of
Natural History, was observed, to be in excellent condition,
though killed in the month of January ; a convincing proof,
as Mr. Blackwall observes, that the bird had acquired great
-expertness in the management of its singularly-formed bill. .
i 2