Mr. W. Thompson on the Birds of Ireland. 495 



Esq., I have been informed that a trustworthy warrener at Springvale, 

 county of Down (the seat of his grandfather Major Mathews), assured 

 him, that he once saw a magpie fly some distance out to sea with 

 a stoat or weasel fastened to it, and that he and some other men 

 launched a boat, and followed to see the issue ; when they found the 

 magpie lying dead upon the water. The quadruped had disappeared, 

 and they conjectured had been drowned ; but Mr. Mathews thinks 

 that it may rather have made its way ashore, as he has often seen 

 these animals swim admirably. Montagu, in the ' Supplement to his 

 Ornithological Dictionary/ mentions his having been witness to a 

 weasel killing a carrion crow, the latter being in the first instance 

 the aggressor. 



Magpies are so bold, as apparently, through mere wantonness, to 

 persecute birds that would seem to be more than a match for them : 

 the beautiful kestrel or windhover they occasionally annoy. To- 

 wards the peregrine falcon they dare hardly show any impertinence, 

 but the curiosity which I once saw exhibited by a pair of them to- 

 wards a bird of this species was highly amusing. A trained falcon 

 belonging to my relative Richard Langtry, Esq., on being given its 

 liberty, after taking a few circuits through the air, alighted in a 

 small tree, where first one, and then another magpie likewise 

 alighted, without exhibiting the least fear, but with the intention 

 only, to all appearance, of examining it more closely. They gradu- 

 ally approached the hawk until almost touching it ; one indeed seemed 

 to strike it, and immediately after they both flew to a tree close by, 

 and commenced an incessant chattering, which was continued for 

 some time, and which a spectator could not have believed to be any- 

 thing short of a discussion upon the merits of the stranger bird. 

 When in the tree with the hawk, they maintained a respectful 

 silence. At the same place, a tame magpie and a sheep of a peculiar 

 variety, whose fleece hung nearly to the ground, were great friends, 

 and generally associated together. The favourite perch of the bird 

 was on the sheep's back, and this animal became innocently a re- 

 ceiver of stolen goods, as the magpie concealed its pilferings in the 

 thick wool of its back. It sometimes hopped after the sheep, pick- 

 ing at its heels ; and, whether through mischief, or manifesting a 

 natural carnivorous propensity, was very partial to pecking at the 

 bare heels of beggars who came about the house, excessively to their 

 annoyance. Here, also, two magpies were proficients in talking. 

 One, without any teaching, learnt all the phrases of a parrot kept in 

 a neighbouring cage*, and the other was taught several words and 

 short sentences, by their being repeated to it by its master ; perhaps 



* It would seem that, in a wild state also, either this species or a nearly 

 allied one will imitate the notes of other birds. Mr. Nuttall, who, from a 

 knowledge of the bird both in Europe and America, considers the common 

 magpie of the two continents identical, remarks — " I one day observed a 

 small flock, and among the fraternity heard one chattering familiarly in the 

 varied tone of the cat-bird, as he sat on a bough by the water, where birds 

 might become his prey." — Audubon's Ornithological Biography, vol. iv. 

 p. 409. 



