136 



BRITISH BIRDS 



poplar, but occasionally on a flat branch overhanging 

 water or a sudden descent in the ground, and even in 

 a tall hedge when no more suitable position can be 

 found. The eggs are four to six in number, greyish- 

 white, thickly speckled with small spots of a darker shade 



than the ground 

 colour. The 



young are fed on 

 insects, young 

 birds, eggs and 

 fruit. Frogs often 

 fall victims to 

 the rapacity of 

 the Magpie, and 

 make a piteous 

 outcry while 

 they are carried 

 aloft to the rob- 

 ber's aerial den, 

 but that does not 

 avail them much 

 for the Magpie 

 has no pity for 

 anything. 



A band of 

 these birds once 

 attacked a flock 

 of tame Fantail 

 Pigeons and 

 killed most of 

 them, for no 

 other reason, 

 that could be 

 imagined, than jealousy of the'"spotless~purity of plumage 

 and the innocent [if [somewhat self-assertive ways of the 

 latter; but sometimes the freebooter meets his match and 

 has the tables turned on him by the domestic cock, espe- 

 cially when the latter happens to belong to one of the 

 game breeds. 



Young JMagpies are easy to rear on the diet recom- 



TiiE Magpie. 



