Vol. VII. 

 iy07 



] Batey, Magpies or Crow-Shrikes. 83 



Magpie, take the bird young, keep its wing clipped, and give 

 it the run of the- yard or garden. In the country it does not 

 stray far; our most noted one did not wander beyond a hundred 

 paces from the house, a good reason for not so doing being that 

 it gave the free members of his tribe an opportunity to give the 

 wanderer a good hammering. This bird had a keen memory 

 and a truly affectionate disposition. One of my habits was to 

 stretch on a bed to read ; should the weather be warm I wore 

 neither coat nor vest. If the door were open the bird came in, 

 scrambled up, and sat on my chest ; then, if she meant to indulge 

 in a siesta, thrust her head under my shirt front. True, I was 

 always particularly kind to this loving creature, and evidently 

 she appreciated the kindness with which she was treated. 



Those years before the exigencies of life had dispersed us we 

 had a nice flower garden. One evening, drawing towards dusk, 

 as I was doing some weeding, the bird came to me, and in order 

 to ascertain what she would do, her presence was completely 

 ignored. She kept moving about, uttering low cries that can 

 only be spelt " Hunongh.'" All those cries and capers no doubt 

 were meant to draw attention to the fact that roosting time had 

 come and she wanted to be helped into the little willow along- 

 side the chimney. Here it must be remarked that the cries 

 alluded to are used to express satisfaction ; when wild Magpies 

 are settling for the night the same utterance can be heard. The 

 bird finally returned with a beetle, and mounted my bended 

 knee, so bending downwards I opened my mouth, and Mag 

 dropped in her gift. This appeal was not to be resisted, so, 

 presenting my forefinger, she stepped on to it, and was hoisted 

 to her perch. My chief objection to this pet was that she was 

 mischievous in the garden, especially with newly set-out cabbage 

 plants — sometimes pulling up upwards of a dozen one after the 

 other. As soon as noticed these were re-set ; the next time the 

 damage was not so bad. When detected at such pranks, 

 instead of beating her about, I gave her a great scolding, with 

 the result that she assumed an attitude that struck me as being 

 expressive of contrition, or otherwise put on an air of humiliation 

 so comical that I was highly amused. It was apparent that she 

 was aware that she had been guilty of wrong-doing. More could 

 be said of this fine bird, but I will conclude, with respect to her, 

 that she mysteriously disappeared. 



Magpies in a state of nature seem to possess a sense of 

 humour ; in fact, without overshooting the mark, to a certain 

 extent they are addicted to practical joking. Such pranks are 

 not frequent, and perhaps they would not have come under 

 observation had it not been for the fact that the forested glade 

 near our residence was a famous night bivouac. They drifted 

 in, in a leisurely manner, from the plains west of Jackson's 

 Creek, in parties, some very small, others numbering as many as 



