THE MAGPIE. 225 



are green in ground colour, boldly marked with deep 

 brown and a few faint purplish blotches. In shape some 

 specimens are almost round, others considerably elon- 

 gated, while many are strictly oval. He who climbs to 

 the nest of the Magpie will find, in spite of what he reads 

 or is told to the contrary, the eggs lying bare and un- 

 covered on their rooty lining, which is, by the way, per- 

 fectly smooth. The female bird, I believe, as a rule, 

 performs the tedious task of incubation, and her mate at- 

 tends her with loving care, supplying her with a plentiful 

 stock of food. 



If you approach the nest of the Magpie when the 

 young are hatched, the old birds will fly round the tree 

 which contains their home, uttering notes fraught with 

 anguish for the safety of their helpless little ones. You 

 will find the female bird, impelled no doubt by the courage 

 maternal love inspires, approach you much nearer than 

 her mate, who contents himself by watching your actions 

 at a safer distance. Before the young are able to fly the 

 nest is enshrouded in a canopy of foliage, and May is 

 well advanced before we see them in company with their 

 parents, searching the pastures for sustenance. 



The note of the Magpie is a harsh chatter, and un- 

 like that of the Jay, which is a discordant scream. Most 

 birds at nightfall are very vociferous, and the Magpie is 

 no exception. Thus we hear them making the woods 

 resound with their dissonant cries when the shadows of 

 night are falling and the birds are about to settle down 

 to rest. Many a time I have been startled by their 

 noisy chattering cry when I have unwittingly disturbed 

 them in their roosting places deep in the forest's silent 

 recesses, or in the clumps of evergreens standing boldly 

 out in cheerful relief against the interminable moors 

 around. 



Q 



