46 BIRDS OF THE WEST 



them we felt like speeding the parting guest with something less 

 desirable than a Godspeed. 



Talk about nerve ! And table manners ! They were as long on 

 one as they were short on the other. 



Campers say that they will even ride down the river with 

 them in their boats and steal anything from a bar of sciap to a sad 

 die of vension, returning for bits of it at regular intervals until they 

 are bloody from tip to tail. As they do not care for wind nor 

 weather, often sitting on their eggs so early in the spring that every- 

 thing freezes but the eggs and themselves, they store up, or lay 

 down, meat for the winter. Their energy and providence are about 

 all the good that is evident in them unless you admire that kind of 

 mischief that is open and above board as his is, for he is a real 

 free-booter — very free. 



They are not as saucy as their cousins, the blue jays, and don't 

 really try to steal, for they just assume that the world owes them a 

 living and they take it. A favorite name for them is Whiskey 

 John, a name that sounds somewhat like the name that the Indians 

 gave them. It is a misnomer but doubtless they would drink whis- 

 key if they could get it for they have never been known to refuse 

 anything. 



MAGPIE. 



Along the Missouri River and in the Black Hills, magpies are 

 to be found in fairly large numbers. They are possessed by devils 

 if such things are possible, and they can think of more mischief than 

 a crowd of bad boys. They are easily tamed and become interest- 

 ing pets, though you must be prepared to have your ink-bottles 

 tipped over and your papers scattered about the room. A pet mag- 

 pie owned by so near a friend of mine that I felt that I owned two- 

 thirds of the bird, had a habit of going to the station as often as a 

 train came in and riding out of town a mile or two before return- 

 ing by his easy and graceful flight. One day he failed to return 

 and it is probable that having gone inside one of the cars, he be- 

 came the property of some bird-fancier within. It was a common 

 habit of "Mag" to pester the cat and "Tabby" seemed to submit 

 as though she had to do it. 



Magpies build very large bulky nests and have all kinds of 

 strange conceits tliat lead them to work fancy articles into them. 



