PICA MELANOLEUCA. 479 



man is not divorced from Nature — where the primitive alliance 

 remains unbroken — where the animals are ignorant that they 

 have cause to dread the human species." There is a gentle 

 pleasure in this confidence— in seeing the birds come at the 

 Brahmin's call and eat from his very hand ; in watching the 

 apes on the pagoda roof, sleeping in peace, or playing with and 

 suckling their young in as much security as in the bosom of 

 their native forests. What must the Hindoo think of our 

 boasted Christianity who sees what is jocularly called a 

 " gamekeeper's gibbet" — that is, interesting birds destined by 

 Nature to live on the exuberance of life nailed up on cross 

 bits of wood for doing what the gamekeeper does in a far less 

 justifiable manner, often for mere wanton sport, wounding and 

 torturing, while the eagle, the falcon, or the hawk, or even the 

 raven, the corbie, the hoody, the magpie, or the jay fulfil their 

 mission direct with the least possible suffering or delay ? What 

 must he think, I say, when he sees such sprightly, pied, 

 black, white, green, blue, and purple hued birds as the magpie 

 and the jay barbarously nailed up on cross bars along with the 

 missel thrush, the mavis, and the blackbird — not even for a 

 scarecrow, but for the mean pride of ostentation — to gain the 

 approving smile of a callous employer, or an extra guinea for 

 such comtemptible and revolting shows ? — the wise balance of 

 Nature tampered with to suit the selfish so-called sportsman ; 

 while the true sportsman, the feeling-hearted naturalist, as well 

 as every kind-hearted man or woman, is pained who sees such 

 heartless, useless displays. All birds, like the butterflies, the 

 bees, and the flowers are like the smiles of Nature, and whoever 

 wantonly tries to exterminate what Nature created is indirectly 

 blaming the Creator, for, the way the easily discerned, slow- 

 flying magpie (along with other birds) are shot, trapped, and 

 poisoned so mercilessly, is, as if their creation was a blunder and 

 a crime ; and yet they harmonise better in Nature's broad design 

 than the pampered pheasant in the game preserve, or the rouged 

 beauty in the ballroom. It is an inherent trait of the magpie's 

 nature to draw near to man, hence in Britain it runs the 

 greater risk of being shot. It is easily domesticated, like 

 the daw, and makes an amusing, pert, if at times mischievous, 

 pet. A gentleman had a tame one. He had also a young pike, 

 two lbs. weight, which he kept in a large tub. He saw 

 the magpie perched on the edge of the tub watching the fish, 

 which, alive to the danger, sank out of harm's way. Next day 

 he missed the pike ; on a pear tree close by he saw the magpie 



