Pica - European Magpie, Black-Billed Magpie, Korean Magpie, Yellow-Billed Magpie (Paperback)

Chapters: European Magpie, Black-Billed Magpie, Korean Magpie, Yellow-Billed Magpie. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 33. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The European Magpie or Common Magpie (Pica pica) is a resident breeding bird throughout Europe, much of Asia, and northwest Africa. It is one of several birds in the crow family named as magpies, and belongs to the Holarctic radiation of "monochrome" magpies. In Europe, "Magpie" is used by English speakers as a synonym for the European Magpie; it is the only magpie in Europe outside the Iberian Peninsula. The European Magpie is 4446 centimetres (1718 in) in length - in the adult over 50% of this is tail - and a wingspan of 5262 centimetres (2024 in). Its head, neck and breast are glossy black with a metallic green and violet sheen; the belly and scapulars (shoulder feathers) are pure white; the wings are black glossed with green or purple, and the primaries have white inner webs, conspicuous when the wing is open. The graduated tail is black, shot with bronze-green and other iridescent colours. The legs and bill are black. In flightThe young resemble the adults, but are at first without much of the gloss on the sooty plumage. The male is slightly larger than the female. There are numerous subspecies. The northwest African race differs in having a patch of blue bare skin around the eye, no white patch on the rump and an unglossed tail. The southwest Arabian race differs in being smaller, with dull black plumage lacking iridescent tones, and minimal white in the wings. The Siberian races have more extensive white in the wings, and brilliant green iridescence; Korean birds have a purple gloss instead and relatively longer wings and a shorter tail. Analysis of mtDNA sequences has indicated that the Korean race, P. pica sericea, is ve...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=195802