PIE 721 
neighbour of every farmer, as it formerly was in England if not in 
Scotland also. Though now common enough in Ireland, there 
is ample evidence! to prove that it did not exist in that country in 
1617, when Fynes Morison 2 wrote his Jéinerary, and that adduced 
by Mr. Barrett-Hamilton (Zool. 1891, pp. 247-249) shews that 
it first appeared about 1676, when “a parcel,” supposed to have 
been driven from Wales by stormy weather, landed in Wexford. 
It is a species that when not molested is extending its range, 
as Wolley ascertained in Lapland, where within the last century it 
has been gradually pushing its way along the coast and into the 
interior from one fishing-station or settler’s house to the next, as 
the country has been peopled. 
Since the persecution to which the Pie has been subjected in 
Great Britain, its habits have undoubtedly altered greatly in 
character. It is no longer the merry, saucy hanger-on of the home- 
stead, as it was to writers of former days, who were constantly 
alluding to its disposition, but is become the suspicious thief, 
shunning the gaze of man, and knowing that danger may lurk in 
every bush. Hence opportunities of observing it fall to the lot of 
few, and most persons know it only as a curtailed captive in a 
wicker cage, where its vivacity and natural beauty are lessened or 
wholly lost. At large few European birds possess greater beauty, 
the pure white of its scapulars and inner web of the flight-feathers 
contrasting vividly with the deep glossy black of the rest of its 
body and wings, while its long tail is lustrous with green, bronze 
and purple reflexions. The Pie’s nest is a wonderfully ingenious 
structure, whether placed in high trees or low bushes, and is so 
massively built that it will stand for years. Its foundation consists 
of stout sticks, turf and clay, wrought into a deep, hollow cup, 
plastered with earth, and lined with fibres; but around this is 
erected a firmly-interwoven, basket-like outwork of thorny twigs, 
forming a dome over the nest, and leaving but a single hole in the 
side for entrance and exit, so that the whole structure is rendered 
almost impregnable. Herein are laid from six to nine eggs, of a 
pale bluish-green freckled with brown and blotched with ash-colour. 
Superstition as to the appearance of the Pie still survives even 
among many educated persons, and there are several versions of a 
riming adage as to the various turns of luck which its presenting 
itself, either alone or in company with others, is supposed to 
1 A compendious summary of this will be found in Yarrell’s British Birds, 
ed. 4, li. pp. 318-320. 
2 His predecessor Derricke, in 1578, said :— 
‘‘No Pies to plucke the Thatch from house, 
are breed in Irishe grounde : 
But worse then Pies, the same to burne, 
a thousande maie be founde.”—The Image of Irelande, London : 1581. 
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