MAGPIE. 17 



Family CORVID/E. Genus Pica. 



MAGPIE. 



Pica caudata, Gerini. 

 Single Brooded. Laying season, March and April. 



British breeding area : The Magpie breeds more 

 or less commonly throughout the wooded districts of 

 the British Islands, and in many places continues 

 steadily to increase in spite of incessant persecution. 

 There can be little doubt that this is due to the bird's 

 great fecundity, and its habit of nesting in tall trees. 

 The Magpie does not breed on the Outer Hebrides, nor 

 does it visit the Orkneys and the Shetlands, but it nests 

 sparingly on the Channel Islands. In Ireland the 

 Magpie is much more abundant than formerly, and its 

 numbers are still perceptibly increasing in many localities. 



Breeding habits : Although the great breeding- 

 grounds of the Magpie are situated in or near woods, 

 game coverts, and plantations, a considerable number of 

 nests are made in more open situations, where timber is 

 scarce. This species also pairs for life, and either 

 tenants the same nest yearly, in spite of continued 

 robbery and disturbance, or builds a new structure in 

 the immediate neighbourhood. The nest may be found 

 in almost every kind of forest tree, often in tall bushes 

 or isolated trees in the fields, or even in a low hedgerow. 

 The altitude varies equally as much, from the slender 

 topmost twigs of some woodland giant, to the tangled 

 thicket or hedgerow, not more than six or eight feet 

 from the ground. Another remarkable trait in the 

 Magpie's character is that of nesting close to habita- 

 tions. Although a remarkably shy and wary bird all 

 the rest of the year, in the breeding season it often 

 becomes most trustful. The site for the nest, when in a 



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