THE WILSON QUARTERLY 65 



Starting early in the morning, on horseback, a ride of three 

 hours woukl bring us — for I usually went with a brother 

 collector — over the hills, barren save for sage-brush, bunch- 

 grass, and resin-weed, to one of several *' Springs " known 

 to us. The springs themselves were mere excuses for the 

 presenC'e of some scores of willows, quaking asps, and 

 thorn bushes, placed in a deep ravine and somewhat shel- 

 tered from the wind by the steep hill-sides. In these trees 

 and bushes the magpies build their nests, at a height vary- 

 ing usually from five to thirty feet, although I have found 

 nests resting on the ground. 



A well built magpie's nest is quite an affair; in its normal 

 shape a huge ball of sticks, with the under half shaped and 

 strengthened by a cup of mud a foot across and an inch in 

 thickness; this in turn well dried and carefully lined with 

 roots. The dome is shaped like the bottom, but no mud is 

 used in its construction. The main entrance is through a 

 rather indistinct hole in the side, but as I generally tried to 

 approach the nest from this side, I noticed that the birds 

 often struggled through a less marked opening in the other 

 side. The whole structure averages two or two and a half 

 feet through from top to bottom ; but of this there is every 

 variation ; in some rare instances the nests had no tops. 



Whether or not the birds believe that they can protect 

 their eggs from man, if they only built their nests strong 

 enough, the tendency certainly seems to be toward larger 

 and larger nests. One that I found last spring was a per- 

 fect mediaeval castle. It was four feet in height by three 

 and a half in breadth, and that, too, making liberal allow 

 ance for projecting sticks. It was evidently a new nest 

 and built on the most approved plans of modern magpie 

 architecture. As magpies are most inveterate egg thieves, 

 this huge structure might have been reared with a special 

 view toward securing for its owners a safe retreat from the 

 just indignation of the bird world. In vain were all their 

 precautions, for when I stormed the fortress the bold brig- 

 and was obliKcd to flee, and leave his treasures. 



The size of the sticks that they bring to their nests is sur- 



