Oriental Magpie

SCI Name:  Pica serica
Protonym:  Pica serica Proc.Zool.Soc.London Part XIII, Meeting of January 14, 1845 p. 2
Taxonomy:  Passeriformes / Corvidae / Pica
Taxonomy Code:  orimag1
Type Locality:  Amoy.
Author:  Gould
Publish Year:  1845
IUCN Status:  

DEFINITIONS

PICA
(Corvidae; Ϯ Eurasian Magpie P. pica) L. pica  magpie; "{Plumis basis rostri antrorsum incumbentibus, naresque tegentibus  {Rostro recto; apice deorsum inclinante:  {Rectricibus intermediis multo longioribus . . . . . Pica. Genus 15.   ...   **1. LA PIE.  Pica nigro-violacea; ventre & pennis scapularibus albis; imo dorso griseo; remigibus majoribus interius albis . . . . PICA" (Brisson 1760); based on "Pica" of Gessner 1555, Aldrovandus 1599-1603, and many other authors; "Pica Brisson, 1760, Orn., 1, p. 30. Type, by tautonymy, "Pica" = Pica pica, ibid., 2, p. 35 = Corvus pica Linnaeus." (Blake & Vaurie in Peters 1962, XV, 250). The bold and inquisitive Eurasian Magpie has been accused of decimating local passerine populations, especially in suburban environments.
Var. Rica.
Synon. Cleptes, Melanoleuca, Melanopica.

pica
L. pica  magpie.  In ornithology used also of birds which are pied black and white and, usually, long-tailed.
● ex "Alca minor" of Brisson 1760 and Strøm 1762, and "Mergus" of Belon 1555, Aldrovandus 1599-1603, Willughby 1676, and Ray 1713 (syn. Alca torda).
● ex “Gobe-mouche pie de Cayenne” of d’Aubenton 1765-1781, pl. 675, fig. 1, and “Gillit” or “Gobe-mouche pie de Cayenne” of de Buffon 1770-1785 (Fluvicola).
● "SCOLOPAX PICA.  DIAGN. Corpus nigrum, Albo vero pectus, abdomen, uropygium, remiges secundæ, et dimidia pars caudæ.  ...  Statura S. Rusticolæ" (Scopoli 1769) (syn. Haematopus ostralegus).
● "48. CORVUS.  ...  Pica.  10. C. albo nigroque varius, cauda cuneiformi. Fn. svec. 76.  Pica varia s. caudata. Gesn. av. 695. Aldr. orn. l. 12. [c]. 12. Jonst. av. 44. t. 17. Will. ornith. 87. t. 19. Raj. av. 41. Alb. av. t. 1. p. 15. t. 15. Frisch. av. t. 58.  Habitat in Europa nido artificioso.  Degit ad pagos, inter hostes offensos sylvarum osor; legit quisquilias." (Linnaeus 1758) (Pica).

serica
Gr. σηρικος sērikos  silken  < σηρικον sērikon  silk  < σηρες Sēres  the people from whom silk was obtained, the Chinese (cf. L. Sericus  of the Seres (i.e. Chinese), silken); "secondaries and greater wing-coverts shining steel-blue; spurious wing and edges of the base of the outer webs of the primaries shining deep green ...tail greenish black, with bronze reflexions" (Gould 1845) (subsp. Pica pica).