Successful Breeding of the Long-tailed Cissa atthe Houston Zoo

Abstract

Among the 100 or so species presently assigned to the family Corvidae (Austin, 1961) occur some of the world's most familiar birds such as the rook and common jay of Eurasia and the American crow and blue jay of North America. Many of the corvid species are also highly desirable zoo- 1 o g i cal and avicultural subjects because of their beauty of plumage, graceful shape and bold, active behavior. Near the top of this category is Cissa cbinensis, and whether popularly called Long-tailed Cissa, Green Magpie or Green Hunting Cissa (Goodwin, 1976), this species has great appeal as a result of its silken, bright green plumage with distinctive markings of chestnut-red, white and black, red-orange beak and legs, graceful graduated tail, and typically corvid curiosity which keeps it on the move in an aviary. If the bird rates a ten on those characteristics, it must be assigned a much lower rating for its voice which is unmusical and harsh, but certainly not as unpleasant or as persistent as the voices of many psittacines. One must also....
PDF