THE MAGPIE. 203 



bank to the east of the mausion-house, General Home, who 

 disliked Piets very much, used to get him to climb 

 the trees on which they built, to harry their nests. Mr, 

 Hardy mentions that Penmanshiel Wood was a favourite 

 resort of this bird until 1843, when it was extirpated by 

 the game-watchers. It is still, however, frequently seen in 

 the parishes of Legerwood,^ Westruther, Lauder,^ Abbey St. 

 Bathans,^ and Coldingham,* where there are extensive woods, 

 and occasionally about Mertoun and Cowdenknowes, but it 

 is also found in other districts. A pair had their nest and 

 reared their young in a small fir wood at Paxton in 1874, 

 and as the young birds were allowed to fly, an occasional 

 specimen was observed in the neighbourhood for some years 

 afterwards. 



The Piet used to be considered a bird of omen by the 

 peasantry of the county, and, as the belief still lingers, the 

 following rhyme is occasionally heard in some localities : — 



One 's mirth, two 's grief, 

 Three 's a wedding, four 's death, 

 Five is heaven, six is hell, 

 Seven the devil's ain sel'. 



Mr. Duns states that an old man named Jamie Dewar, who 

 was a cabinetmaker in Duns about thirty-five years ago, 

 believed so firmly in the truth of the above lines, that he 

 would sometimes turn back when on an important errand if 

 two Piets happened to appear on the road. As another 



1 Hist. Ber. Nat. Chtb, vol. ix. p. 242. Mr. Jolm Logan informed me on 22nd 

 Feb. 1887 that Magpies were so plentiful about Legerwood that he had to employ 

 a man to kill them. They bred in the strips of wood on the farm, and were still 

 numerous in 1886 when he left Legerwood. 



2 While driving past Huntingdon, near Lauder, on 3rd March 1885, I saw five 

 or six Piets in a strip of wood by the side of the road. 



3 Mr. Turnbull of Abbey St. Bathans is good enough to give his gamekeeper 

 directions not to kill out all the Piets, and on that account a pair or two may be 

 seen about Bushelhill. 



•* There is a nest every year on the old Scotch fir trees near the millpond at 

 Sunny side. 



