MAGPIE, 229 



abundant ; here again the attentions of the keepers have led 

 to its decrease, still it holds its own in an astonishing manner 

 considering the many enemies it has to contend against. 

 A correspondent of the Field, February 28th 1903, remarks 

 that he had seen a flock, numbering twenty-seven individuals, 

 that frequented a locality near York for some time previously 

 to the date of his communication. It is pretty generally 

 distributed in the East Riding, but becoming very scarce 

 in those locahties where it is still found, except perhaps on 

 one or two estates whose owners still prefer to allow nature's 

 ways to remain unchecked. One such sanctuary is Scamp- 

 ston Park, where the bird is slightly on the increase. It is 

 moderately abundant at Market Weighton ; formerly it 

 nested quite close to the town of Beverley, though now it is 

 decreasing in that district. In South Holderness, where 

 if was formerly plentiful, it now breeds in small numbers only, 

 convincing proof of the cause of its decadence being afforded 

 by the sight of sixteen bodies suspended on a keeper's museum, 

 on 15th January 1901. 



Although not included among the regular migrants, it 

 would appear that the Magpie does in some seasons wander 

 considerable distances from its ordinary haunts ; many were 

 noticed in Cleveland in 1883, and several were seen in the 

 Humber district after the gale of 14th October 1887. 



In addition to its reprehensible habit of plundering game 

 birds' eggs, the Magpie has been detected in the act of destroy- 

 ing domesticated poultry ; near Barnsley, in 1892, one was 

 found attacking a pigeon {Field, 5th November 1892). 



As stated above, Charles Waterton protected these birds 

 at Walton Park, where in 1833 he took the Pie's eggs out of 

 a nest, substituting those of a Jackdaw, which the Magpie 

 hatched. An instance of a female being induced, by repeated 

 robberies, to lay four clutches of eggs, viz., five, seven, five, 

 and six, is related by J. Ranson {Zool. 1864, p. 9036). Eggs 

 have been found in the North Riding as early as the 22nd 

 of March. 



Variation of plumage is not prevalent in this species to 

 the same extent as in some others of the genus, and Yorkshire 



