PIE. 315 



for its consumption of grain or fruit is trifling,* and it is 

 also a great destroyer of mice and rats — a fact of which the 

 gamekeeper is seldom mindful though never forgetting its 

 assaults on leverets and rabbits. 



Partial as it is to cultivated and wooded districts, the Pie 

 is not by any means a strictly woodland-bird, and it is well 

 content with an open country if a sufficiency of bushes or 

 trees standing apart is there to be found ; for, its flight 

 being laboured and comparatively weak, it seldom goes wil- 

 lingly far from a place of shelter.! It is an exceedingly 



* It is said also to be of service in ridding cattle of maggots embedded in their 

 bide, and sheep it will free from lice. 



+ Hunting this bird to death by a process in which Falcons are trained to 

 take part — and hence called " Magpie-hawking "—is a pursuit followed by some 

 persons with great pleasure. However much excitement may attend it, to the 

 Editor it appears nearly the utmost degradation of a noble sport. There is no 

 gallant contest of speed and power. Bird is not matched against bird in open 

 flight, for on the wing a Pie has not a chance against a Falcon. The quarry's 

 only resource lies in his cunniDg and sagacity, which are met by driving him 

 from one refuge after another until none be left, when he becomes an easy victim 

 to the clutch of the Falcon (the most merciful perhaps of his persecutors) and his 

 teiii r and fatigue are at once ended. This may seem too strong a condemnation, 

 but that the reader may judge for himself, Sebright's description, to the truth- 

 fulness of which the Editor can bear witness, is added : — " A down or common, 

 where low trees or thorn bushes are dispersed at the distance of from thirty to 

 fifty yards apart, is the place best calculated for this diversion. When a mag- 

 pie is seen at a distance, a hawk is immediately to be cast off. The magpie will 

 take refuge in a bush the moment that he sees the falcon, and will remain there 

 until the falconer arrives, with the hawk waiting on in the air. The magpie is 

 to be driven from his retreat, and the hawk, if at a good pitch, will stoop at 

 him as he passes to another bush, from whence he is to be driven in the same way, 

 another hawk having been previously cast off, so that one or the other may always 

 !»■ so situated as to attack him to advantage. The second hawk is necessary, 

 for the magpie shifts with great cunning and dexterity to avoid the stoop ; and 

 when hard pressed, owing to the bushes being rather far apart, will pass under 

 the bellies of the horses, flutter along a cart rut, and avail himself of every little 

 inequality of the ground in order to escape. Four or five assistants, besides the 

 falconer, (who should attend solely to his hawks I are required for this sport. 

 They should be well mounted, and provided with whips; for the magpie cannot 

 be driven from a bush by a stick ; but the crack of a whip will force him to leave 

 it, even when he is so tired as hardly to be able to fly. Nothing can be more 

 animating than this spurt : it is, in my opinion, far superior to every other kind 

 ofbawking. The object of the chace is fully a match for its pursuers — a requisite 

 absolutely necessary to give an interest to any sport of this kind; and it has the 

 advantage of giving full employment to the company, which is not the case in 



