352 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMEItlOAN BIRDS. 



birds remain the year around and breed in close proximity to man. At Foi*t 

 Lapwai, Idaho, more than tlilrty pairs bred within a radius of a mile of the 

 Post, and several within a hundred yards of some of the houses, in perfectly 

 expo ed situations. 



Their ft)od during the greater part of the year consists mainly of insects, 

 especially of the lai'ge black cricket (so numerous and destructive in certain 

 seasons in the West), grasshoppers, grubs and larvae of different kinds, angle- 

 worms, crawfish, small mammals, birds, their young and eggs, carrion of all sorts, 

 offal from slaughterhouses, and kitchen refuse generally. In the summer and 

 fall fruits and berries also enter to some extent into their bill of fare. In the 

 winter, when food becoujes scarce, they are charged with pecking holes in the 

 backs of sore-backed horses, freshly branded cattle, and scabby sheep. While 

 this is possibly true to a limited extent in exceptionally severe winters, I have 

 never observed it, although stationed on se^'eral Indian reservations, where 

 sore-backed ponies were common enough; l)ut I have seen them industriously 

 pecking away at green hides hung out to dry. Mr. John Bucher, of Warner 

 Valle}', Oregon, states that he has observed numbers of Magpies on the backs 

 of cattle, in the spring, eating grubs, the larvae of Hypoderma bovis, which infest 

 the backs of old and thin animals, and he is likewise of the opinion they do not 

 confine their attention to the grub alone, but pick at the living flesh as well. 



Mr. W. Gr. Smith, lately of Loveland, Colorado, writes me; "Among other 

 pets I kept a tame ]\Iagpie and a lot of guinea pigs. Several of the latter died 

 from some unknown cause. (Jne day I caught the Magj)ie in tlie act of pecking 

 out the eye of one; I then examined the dead ones and found that each had 

 both eyes picked out. A charge of shot soon settled the culprit." 



Tlie American Magpie is undoubtedly more or less of a rowdy and scape- 

 gi'ace among its kind, but on the whole I think he is not quite as black as usually 

 painted, and while it can not be denied that he does some harm, I must insist 

 that he also does considerable good, and the latter compensates perhaps for all 

 his misdeeds. 



The nesting season begins early; in Colorado, northeastern California, 

 southern Oregon, and Idaho, sometimes in the first week of April, and usually 

 by the middle of this month; in Washington and Montana, a couple of weeks 

 later, about the latter part of April or the beginning of ]\Iay, and in the more 

 northern portions of its range, in the last half of June and beginning of July. 

 In Alaska these birds have been found almost at the borders of the Arctic Circle, 

 and on the Shumagin Islands, the Alaskan Peninsula, and in the more southern 

 portions of the territory; in the vicinity of Sitka, they are not uncommon. Mr. 

 Chase Littlejolm Avrites that he found them all along the peninsula wherever 

 the alder bushes were large enough to afford shelter and where they could place 

 their nests out of reach of foxes. 



The Magpie, once mated, I believe remains so through life. The nest is a 

 bulky and sometimes quite an elaborate affair, and is usually globular in shape. 

 Outwardly it is constructed of sticks, some of which are occasionally 2 feet in 



