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During our railway journey through the districts 

 near Abbeville and Amiens in Northern France, 

 especially by the well watered fields round Amiens, 

 we saw very large numbers of Magpies. Very hand- 

 some these fellows looked in the bright sunlight, and 

 we soon counted a score or more. In the poplars 

 growing from the water's edge were enormous numbers 

 of their nests. I use the word "enormous" in com- 

 parison with their comparative rarety at home, for it 

 was often possible to see from the carriage window 

 half-a-dozen of their nests at the same moment. Now 

 these were observations taken from a flying railway 

 train, just going through one line of the country, and 

 if we saw so many on one line, what huge numbers 

 must be scattered over those districts ! Possibly these 

 few remarks may arouse members who have sojourned 

 in these parts to give us some information on many 

 points which suggest themselves, e.g. Why are the 

 Magpies in such profusion ? Are they protected by 

 the natives ? What is the effect on smaller bird-life, 

 especially as regards probable raids on their eggs and 

 young ? And why do not the ordinary ornithological 

 books mention the immense numbers in these districts? 

 As far as we could see from the train, we observed no 

 other birds except Crows, which occurred frequently 

 in about the same numbers as the Magpies. The nests 

 seemed to be about equally divided between these two 

 species ; of course we could only guess at the Crows' 

 nests, but the lattice work domes over the others 

 showed clearly the Magpie builder. Another point ; 

 all the Magpies' nests were high up in the trees — 

 mostly poplars — whereas, as is well known, in the 

 British Islands they usually build comparatively low. 



