The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma/Birds/Order Passeres/Family Corvidæ/Genus Cissa

by Edward Charles Stuart Baker

Genus CISSA Boie, 1826.

The genus Cissa contains, among others, two Indian Magpies of very beautiful plumage. They differ from the Magpies of the genus Urocissa in having a much shorter tail and the eyelids wattled at the edges, a feature which is very distinct in life and generally visible in some degree in dry skins.

Jerdon, very properly, placed this bird between Urocissa and Dendrocitta, but wrongly called it a Jay. Oates, in view of its long tail and bright coloration, more correctly termed it a Magpie, a name which is now generally accepted.

The Magpies of this genus are forest birds of shy habits, feeding both on trees and low bushes and sometimes on the ground. In the construction of their nests they resemble Urocissa and not Pica. They have red bills.

Davison has mentioned (S. F. vi, p. 385) that the habits of these birds closely accord with those of Garrulax but the resemblance is not very striking, although it is a curious fact that in structure these two genera also possess certain affinities.

Key to Species.

A.

Head and neck green ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

C. c. chinensis., p. 45.

B.

Head and neck chestnut ....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................

C. ornata., p. 46.

 

(24) Cissa chinensis chinensis.

The Green Magpie.

Coracias chinensis Bodd., Tabl. Pl. Enl., p. 38 (1783) (China).

Cissa chinensis. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 28.

Vernacular names. The Green Jay, Jerdon; Sirgang (Beug.); Chap-ling-pho (Lepcha); Rab-ling-chapa (Bhutea); Pilitel (Dafla Hills); Lil Sorai (Assamese); Dao-gatang-lili (Cachari).

Description. Head and neck greenish yellow; general body plumage green; lores and a band through each eye meeting on the nape, block; cheeks, sides of neck and whole lower plumage paler green; tail green, the central feathers tipped with white, the others tipped with white and with a subterminal black band; lesser wing-coverts green, the other coverts red; quills brown on the inner webs, red on the outer; the inner secondaries tipped with pale blue and with a band of black in front of the tips.

Colours of soft parts. Iris blood-red, pale blue-brown in young birds; bill deep coral-red; legs coral-red; claws horny red; eyelids yellowish brown, the edges red.

Measurements. Total length about 370 to 380 mm.; wing about 150 mm.; tail about 200 mm.; tarsus about 40 mm.; culmen about 37 mm.

The plumage of this bird in ill-health, in captivity and after death changes greatly; the yellow pigment all evaporates, leaving the bright green a dull blue whilst the red also fades greatly, young birds occasionally have the whole lower parts almost white and in some adults the green is partially replaced by bright azure-blue.

Distribution. Himalayas from the Jamna Valley to the extreme east of Assam, North and South of the Bramaputra, Eastern Bengal, Burma, Shan States and Northern Siam.

Nidification. The breeding season in the Himalayas commences in the last few days of March and continues through April and May, a few birds laying in June and even in July but these latter may be second broods. They build cup-shaped nests of twigs, leaves, grass, roots and bamboo-leaves, lined with roots and placed on a high bush, small sapling or a clump of bamboos. The eggs number from four to six, in Burma often only three and are very- magpie-like in their general appearance, but more grey and not green in general tone. Here and there a rather reddish clutch may be found and even more rare, a clutch that is almost white. They measure on an average for 200 eggs 30·2 x 22·9 mm.

This Jay breeds at all elevations from the foot-hills to nearly 4,000 feet, but is not common above 2,500 feet.

Habits. This beautiful Magpie is an inhabitant of low-level, evergreen forests and heavy jungle, but may also be found in bamboo-jungle and the more dry, deciduous forests, such as oak, etc. in Burma they seem to be more often found in dry open parts than in the heavier evergreen cover. Their name "Hunting Jay," or "Hunting Magpie," is well applied, as they are determined hunters of big insect life and of small unfledged birds, etc., and for their quarry they will regularly quarter the country they work over. They feed alike on high trees, scrub-jungle and actually on the ground itself. Their notes are very harsh and strident and they are rather noisy birds although shy and wild.

(25) Cissa ornata.

The Ceylonese Magpie.

Pica ornata Wagler, Isis, 1829, p. 749 (India Orientali).

Cissa ornata. Blanf. & Oates, i, p. 29.

Vernacular names. Kahibella (Ceylon).

Description. Whole head, neck, upper back and upper breast rich chestnut; remainder of the body plumage bright blue, suffused with cobalt next the chestnut of the neck; tail blue tipped with white and subterminally with black; wing-coverts brown, more or less margined and suffused with blue; quills chestnut on the outer webs, black on the inner, changing to blue on the inner secondaries; thighs dusky purple.

Colours of soft parts. Iris light brown to dark brown; eyelid deep red; orbital skin somewhat paler; bill, legs and feet coral-red, claws more horny and yellowish at their bases. Measurements. Total length about 400 to 420 mm.; tail about 235 to 255 mm.; wing about 155 to 170 mm.; tarsus about 40 mm.; culmen about 37 mm.

Distribution. Ceylon only. The type-locality must be restricted to Ceylon.

Nidification. According to Legge, the breeding season of the Ceylon Magpie is December to February but eggs collected for me by Mr. J. E, Jenkins were taken in February and March and two clutches purchased with the skins of the old birds from Lazarus, a small dealer in Slave Island, were both taken in April.

The nest is said to be like that of the preceding bird and to be in tall bushes in evergreen jungle. The eggs are large replicas of those of Cissa chinensis, measuring about 32·2 x 23·2mm.

Habits. Apparently similar to those of the Indian Green Magpie; Legge describes it as haunting evergreen forest up to at least 7,000 feet but also found it in similar forest in the foot-hills. It is a noisy bird, uttering its discordant notes both when perching and flying, so that but for its keeping to very dense cover its voice would have led long ago to its extermination by the plume-hunter.