10 INSECTIVOROUS BIRDS 



magpie is not attacked as he would be in the case of a nest 

 nearer the coast, even when the mallee nest contains 

 young. I have climbed to examine nests in this latter 

 part, and although they contained young the old birds flew 

 straight away to watch from a distance, offering no resist- 

 ance whatever. When I was a schoolboy I made a visit to 

 Point Cook with a companion, and we took fifteen young 

 magpies from five nests. In no one case did the parents 

 fly at us, although it was a pity they did not do so. 

 Because the country was closed to everyone without a 

 permit to traverse it the magpies were very trustful. 



I know of a Black-backed Magpie at Hawthorn which 

 has built a nest in a peach tree. For the past three 

 years it has been living under the domesticated role. The 

 bird, not having full freedom, could only work at the nest 

 between 7 and 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m. and on the wlTole of 

 Saturday and Sunday. The nest was placed 7 feet 6 inches 

 above the ground. It was compact, neatly made of various 

 twigs, and slightly lined with feathers. The whole breadth 

 was 14 inches, that of bowl 4*5 inches, and depth of cavity 

 2-5 inches. In October three eggs were laid in it, and the 

 dimensions averaged — diameter, 1*08 ; axis, 1*5 inches. The 

 colours were also normal — ground bluish-grey, under 

 markings purplish, over markings dark brown. 



It is rarely that either of these species lays five eggs to 

 the clatch, but cases in both were reported to me in 

 1897. 



Mr. H. S. Burcher, of Mossgiel, KS.W., on 15th 

 September, 1898, writes to me : — " I noticed a very remark- 

 able incident last week in the finding of a Black-backed 

 Magpie's nest with five eggs. This is quite out of the 

 ordinary for a magpie here, as it is the first time I have 

 ever found five eggs in a nest. I left them at the first time 



