BLACK-AND-WHITE BIRDS. 19 



being longest and the outermost ones shortest, those 

 intervening being ' stepped ' so as to give to the tail a 

 wedge-like appearance. When about to alight the 

 bird rises to its perch, and as it alights the long 

 tail is shot up as with the Blackbird. When 

 feeding on the ground, generally in pastures, the 

 Magpie tacks hither and thither capriciously with a 

 walking or running gait, at times striking its bill into 

 the ground like a Rook, but at the same time throw- 

 ing up its tail like a Blackbird. It resembles the 

 Blackbird, too, in its habit of hugging the hedgerows 

 when escaping. Its note is a low, mechanical, chat- 

 tering sound like that of a rattle or the bleat of a 

 goat. The Magpie nests in detached pairs, often in a 

 high tree standing apart, the nest, a great globe of 

 twigs, being placed usually near the top and in the 

 line of the trunk. The birds, however, will play and 

 chatter together in the trees in small companies, and 

 during autumn and winter are to be met in bands of 

 half-a-dozen or more flying and feeding together. 

 There is no bird comparable in size with the Magpie 

 which combines with broadly figured black-and-white 

 plumage the Magpies inordinate length of tail. It 

 is a bird of the woodland, and of fields diversified by 

 tree and hedp-erow. 



RING-OUZEL.— Form, like the Blackbird (plate 3). 

 Length, 10 inches. Black, with gray edgings to the 

 feathers ; a bold white band across the throat ; 

 bill yellow, black at the tip ; legs and feet black. 

 Migrant. 



Eggs. — 4-5, like those of the Blackbird, but 



D 



