A TERRIBLE RETRIBUTION. 73 
elapsed, was covered with magpies working at 
the eyes, lips, sores, and soft skin inside the 
thighs. It was the most singular spectacle I ever 
witnessed. One after the other the birds rolled 
from off the dead mule, and as they fell and 
died, others greedily took their vacant places; 
and so this terrible slaughter went on, until the 
heaps of dead magpies nearly buried the body ot 
the mule. ‘Two foxes, one cayote, several Indian 
dogs, and a large wolf, on the day following the 
mule’s demise, lay dead by the side of the poi- 
soned birds. It was a terrible revenge—how far 
justifiable is a matter of opinion. The packers, 
of course, were in wild glee at the entire success 
of the scheme. 
The magpie builds much the same kind of nest 
as our British species, lays seven or eight eggs, 
and commences nesting in March, long before the 
snow begins to thaw. Numbers winter in the 
interior, whilst others resort to the seacoast, and 
feed on marine provender. They grow so tame 
and impudent in winter, that I have often given 
them food from my hand, without their showing 
any evidence of fear. 
Steller’s Jay (Cyanura stiller’) makes its pre- 
sence known by the continual utterance of a dis- 
cordant scream; hopping perpetually from bough 
