242 CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 



there is much game preserving of late years), 

 no doubt, have been considerably diminished by 

 keepers, as it is a most destructive bird to the 

 eoro-s of oame. 



In Ireland where there are large tracts of 

 shooting, over which there is little or no supervision, 

 the Magpie flourishes, and in my shooting expe- 

 ditions to that country I found them to be very 

 plentiful. The specimens in the case were obtained 

 in the winter at Glenbeigh Hotel, co. Kerry. I 

 have really little to say about them, except that I 

 found the Magpie one of the most sagacious birds I 

 ever attempted to stalk and get near. In the winter 

 they are not at all in good plumage, many 

 feathers in the tail being wanting, and others only 

 partly grown ; also there is a great want of gloss 

 about them, so that the birds you see are the pick 

 out of what I was able to shoot. 



In regard to the nesting-habit of this species, 

 Howard Saunders says: "The nest, large and 

 domed, is often begun towards the end of March, 

 and is made of thorny sticks, cemented together 

 with clay at the foundation, with fine roots and dry 

 grass as a lining. It is generally placed at some 

 height in the fork of a tree, but often in tall and 

 sometimes in very low hedges and thorn bushes. 

 The eggs — usually six, but sometimes nine in num- 

 ber, are bluish-green or yellowish-white in ground- 

 colour, closely freckled with olive-brown." He also 

 says that they feed on slugs, snails, worms, rats, and 

 mice, and that their services in this respect probably 



