26 THE AMERICAN MAGPIE. 
thru the sage-brush, poking, prying, spying, and devouring, with the ruth- 
lessness and precision of a pestilence. Not only eggs but young birds are 
appropriated. I once saw a Magpie seize a half-grown Meadowlark from 
its nest, carry it to its own domicile, and parcel it out among its clamoring 
brood. Then, in spite of the best 
defense the agonized parents could 
institute, it calm- 
ly returned and 
selected another. 
Sticks and 
stones 
shied by 
the _ bird- 
Taken in Yakima County. MAGPIE’S NEST FROM ABOVE. Photo by the Author. 
WITH CANOPY REMOVED. SAME NEST AS IN ILLUSTRATION ON PAGE 24. 
man merely deferred the doom of the remaining larks. The Magpie was 
not likely to forget the whereabouts of such easy meat. 
Nor is such a connoisseur of eggs likely to overlook the opportunities 
afforded by a poultry yard. He becomes an adept at purloining eggs, and 
can make off with his booty with astonishing ease. One early morning, 
seeing a Magpie fly over the corral with something large and white in his 
bill, and believing that he had alighted not far beyond, I followed quickly 
and frightened him from a large hen’s egg, which bore externally the marks 
