80 Birds I Have Kept. 



work feeding the young ones in the fir tree. Had the deceased 

 come to life ngain? No, for her corpse was in the kitchen, 

 waiting to be skinned and stuffed. Had her ghost come back? 

 !N"ot at all, there was nothing ghostly about the ''caw" of 

 the new mother, as she thrust the cherries into the gaping 

 mouths of the youngsters. Perhaps, though, one of the other 

 Magpies, from the thorn, or from the cherry-laurel, had taken 

 pity on the poor widower, and was lending him a helping 

 hand. ISTot so, for they were all at their posts: the widower 

 had found another wife. ''Where?" asked my mother, and 

 Echo answered, as her custom is, by repeating the inquiry. 

 The stepmother reared the young brood successfully, and then 

 brought up a family of her own. 



The tamed Magpie is very hardy, and will live for a number 

 of years, if he has his liberty, without forsaking those who 

 are kind to him: but a Magpie in a cage is a poor-looking 

 thing, bedraggled and dirty, and when hopping about with 

 his wing cut, he presents a more forlorn appearance still. 

 Moral: keep silver spoons and jewellery out of his reach. 



CHAPTER XXI. 



THE JACKDAW. 



IOXCE had a Jackdaw, but only for a very short time, 

 and, indeed, there is some doubt whether he was really 

 mine at all, so I cannot say a great deal about the bird, 

 except that it is even more easily and more perfectly tamed 

 than the Magpie; though far from being as handsome a bird, 

 it is a general favourite with schoolboys, learning to say a 

 few words, and to come and go at command. 



Apropos of this bird I recollect reading somewhere a rather 

 curious story. Two boys determined to rob the nest of a 

 Jackdaw that had built upon some projection outside the highest 



