12 THE USEFUL BIRDS 



female, appears to be the attacker of man, and the 

 attacked is not only a man, woman, or child, but may be 

 a dog or a species of small bird, or, more commonly, a 

 Hawk or Crow. Small birds as Robins and Acanthizae, 

 that are breeding in close proximity to the Magpie, may 

 have their nests pulled to pieces, the young destroyed, or 

 even the old birds themselves killed if they can be caught. 

 Maggie, in this respect, is a brutal bird. Both male and 

 female attack Hawks. The Magpies fly desperately at a 

 person when either eggs or young are in the nest, but 

 later their pugnacity ceases. In individual cases the Mag- 

 pie will keep the pugnacious temperament very strongly 

 for some weeks, or even months, and woe betide the 

 unwary who should meet such a hot-tempered bird. In 

 breeding season it recognizes its arch-enemy, man, whether 

 on horseback, on a bicycle, or in a buggy, nnd for a 

 considerable distance from its nest it will follow and make 

 war on him — lucky the man who escapes with nothing 

 worse than a perforated hat ! The bird, I consider, has 

 learnt by direct experience to regard mankind in the hght 

 of an enemy — experience, I say, because in the remote and 

 sparsely-populated districts, where the birds are not subject 

 to the persecutions of schoolboys or other egg-hunters, 

 they are of a much milder disposition. As oiie approaches 

 the towns their ferocity increases. 



I have examined a number of nests in various parts of 

 the Mallee. Although in the majority of cases these nests 

 contained young, the old birds flew away at my approach, 

 perched on a neighbouring tree, and from this vantage 

 surveyed my doings without offering any resistance what- 

 ever. Even as near Melbourne as Point Cook I have 

 found the Magpies very mild in disposition. As a school- 

 boy I visited this part, accompanied by a school friend, 

 and took fifteen young birds from five nests ; in no one 



