CORVUS MONEDULA. 475 



out into open laughter. Things became so bad that he ordered them out of 

 the church. Then an effort was made to capture the intruder, which had 

 perched itself boldly on the reading-desk. The bird, however, flew to the 

 rafters above, where it remained talking till the end of the service." 



A striking parody on the formalities of worship. It is more 

 sprightly than the rest of the genera, walks and hops more 

 gracefully, and more inclined to wrangle with one another, 

 which may have caused Tennyson to write — 



" No hoary knoll of ash and haw 

 That hears the latest linnet trill, 

 Nor quarry trench'd along the hill, 

 And haunted by the wrangling daw." 



All the four, from the raven to the daw, have a similar cry, 

 as they are similar in colour, habits, and form — the short, 

 sharp '"' kia" of the daw being merely the treble of the hoarse 

 " cra-a" of the raven and the baritone " caw, caw" of the rook. 

 The back of the head — especially old males — is greyish-white ; 

 the iris is also greyish-white, instead of dark brown, as in the 

 other three. It is 14-| by 30 inches in extent of wings. In 

 1858, my brother kept a young jackdaw and a young tern 

 together — a strange fellowship. He got the young tern on an 

 islet in a loch near Dumfries. The next allied species is the 

 magpie in genus Pica — the Corvus Pica of Linnaeus. 



Genus— PICA. 



Magpie, or Piet. 



Pica Melandleuca. (Vieill.) Corvus Pico. (Linn.) 



" It will have blood ; they say blood will have blood ; 

 Augurs, and understood relations, have 

 By maggot-pies, and choughs, and rooks, brought forth 

 The secret'st man of blood." — Macbeth. 



Linnaeus was not far wrong in classing the "maggot-pie'"' 

 among the crows, for its head, bill, legs, and habits resemble 

 theirs — only its short wings, long tail, and pied dress breaks the 

 similarity. But it has the same nature, and shares the aversion 

 of the gamekeeper ; and, owing to its predilection for eggs and 

 young game, is as much persecuted. As if aware of its marked 



