235 REMARKABLE OrCURRENCES IN NATURAL HISTORY. 



Magpie's nest Necessity often leads both men and other animals to do 



bush. what they otherwise would not. As I was one day amusing 



myself with the objects around me, on the road between 



Huntley and Portsoy, I observed two mas^ples hopping round 



a gooseberry bush in a small garden, near a poor-like house, 



in a peculiar manner, and flying out and in to the bush. I 



stepped aside to see what they were doing, and found, from 



the poor man and his wife, that, as there are no trees all 



around for some miles, these magpies, for several years, 



built their nest, and brought forth their young in this bush. 



Strongly barri- And, that foxes, cats, hawks, _&c. might not interrupt them, 



e*do€d. ^i^^y j^.^^ barricadoed, not only their nest, but the bush all 



around, with briars and thorns, in a formidable manner ; 



nay, so much so, that it would cost even a fox, cunning as 



he is, some days labour to get into the nest. The materials 



in the inside of the nest were soft, warm, and comfortable to 



the touch, but, all around on the outride, so rougli, strong, 



and firmly entwined with the bush, that, without a hedge 



knife, hatch bill, or something of the kind, even a man 



could not, without much pain and trouble, get at their 



young; for, from the out to the inside of the nest, it was 



longer than my arm. Frogs, mice, worms, or any thing 



Assisted by the IJvinj^, was what they brought their young. One day, one 

 young m kill- „ , .,.*■,• i t i . • i , 



inga rat. of the magpies havmg lighted on a rat, but not bemg able 



to kill it, one of the young ones came out of the nest to its 

 mother and the rat, while they were lighting about the bush, 

 and assisted in killing it; which they did not accomphsh, 

 till the father, arriving with a dead mousey also lent his 

 aid. The poor woman told me, that, of the two magpies, 

 A chicken res- the mother was the most active and thievish. She was also 

 cued by its mo- unjcratef'ul . for, although the children about the house 



had often frightened cats, hawks, &c. from the nest, yet 

 she one day Sf^ized a chicken, and earned it to the top of 

 , the house to eut it. But the chicken's mother flew up after 



the magpie, and, having rescued the chicken, took it in her 

 nib ; and, as it was not able to fly, bi^ught it down in the 

 / same way as a cat carries her kittens in her mouth, taking 

 its neck in her nib ; and the poor chicken, though it made 

 a great noise while the n»agpie was carrying it up, was ex- 

 tremely quiet, and teemed to feel no pain while its mother 



