MISCELLANEOUS NOTES. :,27 



up to the dog, tind gave him a couple of very hard vicious digs in the tail witli 

 his beak, and then disappeared like lightening round one of the thick mud 

 pillars of the verandah. The dog sprang to his feet with a growl, waking up 

 the bitch, who also jumped up, and both dogs stood about in the verandah 

 uneasily for some time looking for something on which to vent their anger, the 

 magpie all this while keeping himself well out of view. Finally the dogs got 

 drowsy again, lay down in the verandah, and went to sleep again. When all 

 was quiet we saw the magpie come very cautiously from his hiding place. 

 Again he carefully scrutinized the doss to see if they were asleep, and then he 

 repeated the performance, biting the dog again in the same way as before, and 

 again disappearhig like a flash round the thick pillar of the verandah. This 

 time however the dogs were so uneasy, that they would not lie down again. 

 "We saw the magpie wait in his hiding place for some time, and then seeing 

 that the game was up, he hopped down on to the gravel walk about 18 inches 

 below the verandah. We then lost sight of him for a few minutes, but he 

 soon reappeared flying down from a big tree at the other side of the house, 

 and settled close to the two dogs, with a chatter as if he was greeting them for 

 the first time that morning. It was evident from the way the dogs received 

 him that they had no suspicions as to his being their assailant while they were 

 lying asleep. In order to fly down into the verandah from the direction he 

 came, he must have gone right round the bungalow on the gravel walk keeping 

 close to the wall to keep out of view, then at the back of the bungalow got u]) 

 into the tree, and then flown down to the verandah to talk to his friends, the 

 two dogs, as he very often did. They were therefore not the least surprised 

 when he flew down to them, as they were accustomed to see him doing so very 

 often. The barracks were fully half a mile from the bungalow and the magpie 

 always flew there directly he was let out of his cage in the morning, remaining 

 with the men till their breakfast was over, when he used to fly back to the 

 bungalow and get morsels from our breakfast table. At nigbt he always went 

 into his cage of his own accord, the door being put open for him, and it was 

 shut by my servant, when he had gone in, and opened again every morning at 

 daylight. This bird was a constant source of amusement to us, frequently 

 showing what I think was great intelligence, but I think his little joke with the 

 two bull-terriers was his most amusing exploit. He niust have thought this 

 out deliberately, and not the least amusing part of it was the way he coolly 

 presented himself to the two dogs as if he was saying" good morning" to them 

 ■after having just perpetrated a cunning piece of treachery on his unsuspecting 

 friends. If that does not show intelligence I do not know what it should 

 be called. It was a deliberately planned practical joke, admirably carried 

 out. and the perpetrator screened himself cunningly from detection by his 

 victims. 



H. DELME RADCLIFFE, Majou, F.Z.S., 



Royal Welch Fusiliers. } 

 Sporis Club, London, ith Fehmanj 1909. 

 31 



