. Handbook of birds of the western United States, including the great plains, great basin, Pacific slope, and lower Rio Grande Valley . onversational tone and varied inflections and it seems smallwonder that they learn to talk when kept in confinement. They are keen observers and eager investigators of anything newthat does not appear dangerous. If a line of traps are set throughthe sagebrush for small rodents and marked with bits ol cottoM onbush tops, the cotton soon catches their eyes and is promptly inves-tigated. If some of the traps have caught meadow mice they arecarried off to a conven
. Handbook of birds of the western United States, including the great plains, great basin, Pacific slope, and lower Rio Grande Valley . onversational tone and varied inflections and it seems smallwonder that they learn to talk when kept in confinement. They are keen observers and eager investigators of anything newthat does not appear dangerous. If a line of traps are set throughthe sagebrush for small rodents and marked with bits ol cottoM onbush tops, the cotton soon catches their eyes and is promptly inves-tigated. If some of the traps have caught meadow mice they arecarried off to a convenient place, the mice eaten and the traps left —sometimes causing a slight unpleasantness between magpie andmammalogist. In cases where the birds are common they take upthe traps so systematically that the collector has to leave his lineunmarked or devise a method obscure enough to escape their keeneyes. A flock of six or eight once came to examine into the blanketsof a naturalist sleeping on a haycock. Several of them lit on his headand one was so absorbed in its explorations that the awakened col-lector cauffht it in his MA<;ilL CROWS, JAYS, MAGPIES, ETC. 271 The birds are quick to take advantage of circumstances, and havebeen found living largely on dead tish at Lake Wiunemucca, Nevada,feeding with the chickens in Utah, and during deep snows in Ore-gon keeping their toes warm by spending a large share of their timeperched on the backs of horses and mules. 476. Pica nuttalli And. Yellow-billed Magpie, Similar to the P. p. hndsonica, but smaller and with bill and nakedskin back of eye bright yellow. Length: 10-18, wing- , tail , exposed culraen , tarsus Distribution. — Resident in California west of the Sierra Nevada moun-tains from Sacramento Valley south to about latitude o4°, locally distrib-uted. Nest. — Similar to that of hiidsonica, with the addition of cow manureand inner bark of the cottonwood ; placed in oaks, syc
Size: 1263px × 1978px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookidhandbookofbi, bookyear1902
