MAGPIE. 99 
shot as they passed between the Forest and the Ashton 
Hayes, whither they went in search of acorns. 
The Jay, as might be expected, is absent from the 
treeless hills, and is scarce in the valleys of the Goyt 
and Dane and other well-wooded districts in the east 
of the county. Mr. N. Neave has never seen it in the 
neighbourhood of Rainow, and Mr. K. H. Jones informs 
us that it is rare about Middlewood and Disley, whilst 
Oldham, during a two years’ residence at Romiley, never 
met with the bird. 
As a set-off to the damage done by the Jay in the 
game-preserves, it should be remembered that the 
bird destroys many noxious insects. The stomach 
of a female, shot on the nest, examined by Mr. R. 
Newstead, contained over one hundred larve of 
Chimatobia brumata, two of Melolontha vulgaris, and 
many fragments of incubated Pheasant’s eggs. 
MAGPIE. 
Pica RUSTICA (Scopoli). 
Pie, Pyanet. 
The Magpie occurs in all parts of the county, its 
numbers varying in relation to the extent to which 
game-preserving is carried on in different districts. 
For instance, it is not very common about Chester,” 
and in the neighbourhood of Bowdon, Rostherne, and 
Knutsford, where everything is sacrificed to the inter- 
est of the Pheasant, the bird is seldom seen; but in 
the more open country, away from the larger game- 
preserves, in such places as Mobberley, Antrobus, and 
Great Budworth, a few pairs annually succeed in rearing 
1 Dobie, op. cit. p. 304. 2 Ibid. 
