Any of several genera of long-tailed songbirds of the crow family (Corvidae).
The black-billed magpie ( Pica pica ) is 18 in. (45 cm) long and strikingly pied (black-and-white), with an iridescent blue-green tail. It is found in North Africa, across Eurasia, and in western North America. A bird of farmlands and tree-studded open country, it eats insects, seeds, small vertebrates, the eggs and young of other birds, and fresh carrion. It makes a large, round nest of twigs cemented with mud, and is known for hoarding small, bright objects. Other species (in the genera Cyanopica , Cissa , and Urocissa ) include the brilliant blue or green magpies of Asia.