314 COllVID.E. 



the indictment which he and others have drawn up against it 

 as a spoiler may contain no charge that is ahsolutely un- 

 founded, yet the example set by the thrifty husbandmen of 

 France, Belgium and Scandinavia shews that the presence 

 of this bird is not fraught with so much danger to their live 

 stock as its prosecutors would make out, for in all those lands, 

 and especially in Sweden and Norway, it is the tolerated if 

 not the cherished neighbour of every farmer, its depredations 

 being practically unfelt. 



With regard to the charges often made of destroying 

 lambs and weakly sheep by plucking out their eyes, it is 

 quite likely that such cases have happened, but their 

 number must be small, and there is great want of admissible 

 evidence as to the alleged facts.* The sucking of eggs and 

 the carrying off of young poultry would seem to be the 

 gravest crimes commonly committed by the Pie near home- 

 steads, for its pilfering of fruit-gardens does not amount to 

 much. To game, however, it is very injurious, or rather 

 would be so but that little skill is needed to lay the poison 

 or to set the trap which will end the destroyer's days, and 

 in one or both of these methods ceaseless war is waged 

 against this bird by nearly every gamekeeper throughout 

 these kingdoms, with the result, as has been stated, of 

 almost extirpating it in many districts. Yet its numbers 

 are still considerable in the wilder and least frequented parts 

 of England, and the roving habits of the young to some 

 extent supply incomers to replace those that suffer a male- 

 factor's death. There can be no doubt but that, were perse- 

 cution abated, the Pie would speedily become as common as 

 it once was, for it is very prolific and, since little comes 

 amiss to its omnivorous appetite, food would generally be 

 plentiful. There also is reason to think that its restoration 

 to its former abundance might be a decided gain to the agri- 

 culturist, since slugs, snails, insects and worms form, out of 

 all proportion to anything else, the greater part of its diet, 



* Not that there is any doubt of the mode of attack whenever the Pie assails 

 an animal sufficiently large to be troublesome if possessed of sight, and even one 

 no bigger than a Redwing may be thus treated (Zool. p. 277f). 



