Habits of the Magpie. 227 



the object of the jackdaw's visit to the backs of sheep and 

 oxen : it goes there for fleece ; the magpie for filth. 



I cannot suppose, with some naturalists, that the dome of 

 the magpie's nest is intended for a defence ; because the hole 

 at which the bird enters is always open to an enemy ; while 

 the contents of the nest are quite visible through the dome 

 itself. 



The young of the magpie being hatched blind, the eggs are 

 never covered when the parent bird leaves the nest. I am 

 satisfied in my own mind, that neither the magpie, nor any 

 other bird, can have the least idea that their nests will be rob- 

 bed, up to the very moment when their eggs, or their young, 

 are taken away. Did they apprehend such a disaster, we may 

 be assured that their first object would be, to build their 

 nests in a place out of harm's way. Now, the magpie gene- 

 rally chooses the site for its intended incubation, in a spot the 

 most exposed that can possibly be imagined. It will continue 

 to work at the structure of its nest, although we visit the nest 

 two or three times a day ; and it will return to the nest, and 

 sit upon its eggs, after those eggs have been handled times 

 out of number. Nay, more ; you may take away its own eggs, 

 and substitute those of some other bird, and it will hatch them, 

 and rear the produce. 



The magpie (and we may include all other birds) shows 

 not that intensity of feeling for its eggs which it is known to 

 have for its young. Thus, if you take the eggs from the 

 nest, and place them on the ground, the magpie will abandon 

 them for ever ; but, if you remove the young to a place to 

 which the parent bird can have access, she will regularly bring 

 them a supply of food. 



When there is an addle egg, it is allowed to remain in the 

 nest during the entire process of rearing the young. Birds 

 which make their nests in walls, or in the holes of trees (the 

 starling to wit), bring out the addle egg, which has remained 

 from the last year's incubation, and drop it on the ground, 

 when they begin to renew the nest. 



The magpie builds its nest in any tree, no matter of what 

 kind ; and it is very partial even to the lowly thorn bush in the 

 hedgerow. The apple tree in the garden ; the lonely ash in the 

 meadow ; the alder in the swamp ; and the oak in the heart of 

 the forest, far from the abode of man ; all have their attractions 

 for the magpie; and in these it will form its nest, which is in- 

 variably composed of sticks, and clay or earth, and lined with 

 fibrous roots. When I am informed that magpies line their 

 nest with wool, I suspect that there is either an error in the 

 statement, or that the modern magpie has conformed to the 



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