566 BRITISH BIRDS. 
large dome or roof, yet not sufficiently dense to hide the eggs from view 
when the observer is but a short distance from them. At this stage the 
nest will most probably be left for a day or so ere the birds commence 
lining it with a bed of fine rootlets. No other materials but these are 
ever used by the Magpie in lining its nest ; and they are placed so evenly 
that the eggs lie as bare and exposed as if in a basin. The nest is very 
bulky and almost impenetrable, from the fact that the birds usually select 
sticks with large thorns upon them. The nest-cavity is very deep for its 
breadth ; and the hole in the side of the basket-like roof, just above the 
edge of the nest, is generally well concealed. 
The eggs of the Magpie are exceptionally numerous. Dixon has, in a 
few instances, found as many as nine; but from six to eight is the usual 
number. They are very small in proportion to the size of the bird, many 
of them being no larger than exceptionally large eggs of the Blackbird. 
They vary from bluish to yellowish green in ground-colour, with greenish- 
brown markings thickly and evenly distributed over the entire surface. 
They are subject to considerable variation: some specimens are almost 
white, with a few pale olive-green markings at the larger end; whilst 
others are green in ground-colour, boldly marked with deep brown and a 
few faint underlying greyish-purple blotches. A less frequent variety is 
precisely like the eggs of the Pied Wagtail in colour. They measure 
from 1:45 to 1:25 inch in length, and from 1:0 to ‘9 inch in breadth. 
The Magpie only rears one brood in the season; but if the first clutch 
be destroyed, other eggs will be laid, this circumstance probably explain- 
ing the late broods of this bird that we sometimes meet with. Both birds 
sit upon the eggs, although the female performs the greater part of the 
duties of incubation. As soon as they are able to leave the nest the 
young birds are tended by their parents, who usually lead them to 
the neighbouring fields in search of food. When the nest of the Magpie 
is approached, should it only contain fresh eggs, the bird slips quickly off 
them ; should she, however, be sitting, it often requires repeated blows on 
the trunk of the tree to dislodge her; and when the young birds are 
hatched, both the parents will fly round the tree at some considerable 
elevation uttering cries of alarm; and their actions become still more 
uneasy and troubled should the notes of the young birds be imitated by 
the observer. 
The food of the Magpie is varied ; and its propensity to feed upon any 
kind of fare too often costs the bird its life. It is charged with the 
destruction of newly born lambs and weakly sheep; but certainly the 
evidence that it does so is not very clear. In the poultry-yard and the 
game-covert, however, the mischief it works by carrying off the eggs and 
young chicks is a sufficient crime to render it liable to persecution. But 
_ when we bear in mind the numerous artifices adopted by birds for the safety 
