60 THE MAGPIE 
eggs, which in due time are succeeded by as many young ogres, 
who are to be reared to birds by an unstinted supply of the most 
generous diet. Even before their appearance the old birds have 
committed no small havoc in the neighbourhood ; now, however, 
that four times as many mouths have to be filled, the hunting ground 
must either be more closely searched or greatly extended. Any 
one who has had an opportunity of watching the habits of a tame 
Magpie, must have observed its extreme inquisitiveness and skill 
in discovering what was intended to be concealed, joined, moreover, 
to an unscrupulous habit of purloining everything that takes its 
roving fancy. Even when surrounded by plenty and pampered 
with delicacies it prefers a stolen morsel to what is legally its own. 
Little wonder then that when it has to hunt on its own account for 
the necessaries of life, and is stimulated besides by the cravings 
of its hungry brood, it has gained an unenviable notoriety as a 
prowling bandit. In the harrying of birds’ nests no schoolboy 
can compete with it; Partridges and Pheasants are watched to 
their retreat and plundered mercilessly of their eggs and young ; 
the smaller birds are treated in like manner: hares and rabbits, 
if they suffer themselves to be surprised, have their eyes picked 
out and are torn to pieces ; rats, mice, and frogs are a lawful prey ; 
carrion, offal of all kinds, snails, worms, grubs, and caterpillars, 
each in turn pleasantly vary the diet; and, when in season, grain 
and fruit are attacked with as much audacity as is consistent with 
safety; and might, whenever available, give a right to stray 
chickens and ducklings. The young birds, nurtured in an impreg- 
nable stronghold, and familiarized from their earliest days with 
plunder, having no song to learn save the note of caution and alarm 
when danger is near, soon become adepts in the arts of their parents, 
and, before their first moult, are a set of inquisitive, chattering 
marauders, wise enough to keep near the haunts of men because 
food is there most abundant, cautious never to come within reach 
of the fowling-piece, and cunning enough to carry off the call-bird 
from the net. without falling themselves into the snare. Even 
in captivity, with all their drollery, they are unamiable. 
Magpies, though generally distributed, are far more numerous 
in some districts than others. In Cornwall they are very abund- 
ant; hence I have heard them called Cornish Pheasants. In 
Ireland they are now very common. It is stated that they are 
in France more abundant than in any other country of Europe, 
where they principally build their nests in poplar-trees, having 
discovered, it is said, ‘that the brittle nature of the boughs of this 
tree is an additional protection against climbers!’ ‘In Norway’, 
says a writer in the Zoologist,1 ‘this bird, usually so shy in this 
country, and so difficult to approach within gunshot, seems to have 
entirely changed its nature: it is there the most domestic and 
, 1 Vol. viii. p. 3085. 
