generally it has a dull greenish or yellowish-brown tinge, in some
it is creamy, in some it has a decided pinky tinge. The markings are
large irregular blotches and streaks, almost always most dense at the
large end, where they are often more or less confluent, forming an
irregular mottled cap, and not unfrequently very thinly set over the
rest of the surface of the egg. In one egg, however, the zone is about
the thick end, and there are scarcely any markings elsewhere. As a
rule the markings are of an olive-brown of one shade or another; but
when the ground is at all pinkish then the markings are more or less
of a reddish brown. Besides these primary markings, all the eggs
exhibit a greater or smaller number of faint lilac or purple spots or
blotches, which chiefly occur where the other markings are most dense.
In length they vary from 1·06 to 1·22, and in breadth from 0·8 to 1·0,
but the average of 34 eggs is 1·14 by 0·85.


21. Crypsirhina varians (Lath.). _The Black Racket-tailed Magpie_.

Crypsirhina varians (_Lath._), _Hume, Cat._ no. 678 quat.

This Magpie is very common in Lower Pegu, where Mr. Oates found many
nests. He says:--

"This bird appears to lay from the 1st of June to the 15th of July;
most of my nests were taken in the latter month. It selects either one
of the outer branches of a very leafy thorny bush, or perhaps more
commonly a branch of a bamboo, at heights varying from 5 to 20 feet.

"The nest is composed of fine dead twigs firmly woven together. The
interior is lined with twisted tendrils of convolvulus and other