1889-90.] The Magpie. 387 



tliese I had resolved to try some experiments. The one was 

 in a tall holly-tree in the garden at the Inch, and the other 

 in the 'policies of Soiithfield, the property of Mrs Croall. 

 Strange to say, in both cases the birds were attacked by about 

 a dozen rooks, who, after a determined fight, drove the mag- 

 pies away, tore the dome of sticks from the top of the nest, 

 which was taken possession of by a pair of the rooks, into 

 which they dropped their eggs, and have now entered upon 

 the process of hatching. From a nest in the same holly, in 

 the Inch garden last year, I took the eggs of the magpie and 

 transferred them to a starling's nest in a dovecot. I was ex- 

 ceedingly interested in watching the starling return and sit 

 down, seemingly quite contented, on the eggs, notwithstanding 

 their larger size. As the period of incubation of magpies' 

 eggs is longer than that of starlings, the bird evidently dis- 

 covered that something was wrong, and ejected the eggs from 

 the nest, substituting four of her own, which she eventually 

 hatched. 



In a letter I received lately from Mr Scot Skirving, he 

 says : " I once saw a magpie fly off her nest in a wood in 

 East Lothian, and I climbed the tree, when to my astonish- 

 ment I found she had flown off six starling's eggs ! I was 

 most anxious to see what would be the result, for a magpie 

 could perfectly bring up a starling, but when I next went 

 to the tree I found the feathers of the magpie on the ground, 

 and saw that a keeper had sent a shot through the nest. I 

 regretted I had not asked my friend Sir Alexander Kinloch 

 to order the protection of the nest." Like some of the hawk 

 tribe, should a magpie be shot when hatching, the male very 

 frequently within a day or two brings another mate to the 

 nest. This I have had frequent opportunities of observing. 

 More than once I have shot two female magpies off the same 

 nest within a week of each other. 



The food of the magpie varies considerably, as on dissecting 

 them I have found in the gizzard insects, slugs, snails, lizards, 

 mice, grain, eggs, and flesh. It is very destructive to the eggs 

 and young of winged game, and it robs the nests of all smaU 

 birds, for which it is ever on the look ou.t. I once had a brood 

 of twelve Polish chickens in which I took great interest, 

 having had some difficulty in procuring the eggs. Before 



