Habits. This Jackdaw is in habits much the same as its western cousin but in the wilder parts of its habitat it is essentially a cliff bird. It is very fond of company, and numerous birds are often seen together, though it can hardly be called gregarious like the Rook. Its food consists of all kinds of grain, seeds, fruit and insects. It will also kill and eat mice, lizards and nestlings of other species, though not nearly to the same extent as the Carrion-Crow or Raven.
Our Indian and Central Asian bird has been again separated by Kleinschmidt as having the under parts darker and the wing longer than in Russian birds but the fine series in the British Museum does not endorse this diagnosis.
Genus PICA Brisson, 1760.
There is but one species of Pica in India containing three sub-species which grade into one another in the areas where they meet, but which are well differentiated over large tracts of country in which their characteristics are quite constant.
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Pica differs from Corvus in having a very long graduated tail and in having a first primary of very peculiar shape. The Magpies are, however, more addicted to well-wooded districts; they are equally wary and they are almost omnivorous.
