OF VICTORIA. 9 



a magpie can be very pugnacious, according to the provo- 

 cation given that leads all mankind to be treated alike. 

 Magpies fly at you for a reason similar to that of a hen 

 with its chicks in danger. The male bird, and not the 

 female, appears to be the attacker of man, and the 

 attacked is not only a man, woman, or child, but 

 may be a dog or a species of small bird, or, as is 

 better known, a hawk or crow. Small birds, as Robins 

 and Acanthizse, that are breeding at the same time as 

 the magpie, may have their nests pulled to pieces, the 

 young destroyed, or even the old birds, if they can 

 be caught. It is in this respect a brutal bird. Both 

 male and female attack hawks. The magpies fly desper- 

 ately at you when either eggs or young are in the nest, as 

 well as when the latter have recently left the nest, but later 

 their pugnacity ceases. In individual cases the magpie 

 will keep the pugnacious temperament very strongly for 

 some weeks, or even months, and woe betide you if you 

 should meet such a hot-tempered bird. In breeding season 

 it recognizes its arch-enemy, man, whether on horseback 

 or in the buggy, and far beyond a quarter of a mile from 

 its nest it will follow him and endeavour to make war on 

 him. The Black-breasted Plover will fly at dogs, for pro- 

 tection of its eggs, just as the magpie will fly at a crow for 

 a like reason. I should say the bird has learnt by direct 

 experience (not instinct) to regard mankind in the light of 

 an enemy ; experience, because in the remote and sparsely 

 populated districts, where the birds are not subject to the 

 persecutions of schoolboys or other egg-hunters, they are of 

 a much milder disposition. As we approach the towns 

 their ferocity increases. 



In the mallee country Mr. Goudie has noted and com- 

 municated to me that a person going near the nest of a 



