110 CORVID.E. 



leave it, even wlien he is so tired as hardly to be able to fly. 

 The Magpie will always endeavour to make his way to some 

 strong cover ; care, therefore, must be taken to counteract 

 him, and to drive him to that part of the ground where the 

 bushes are farthest from each other. It is not easy to take 

 a Magpie in a hedge. Some of the horsemen must be on 

 each side of it ; some must ride behind, and some before 

 him ; for, unless compelled to rise, by being surrounded on 

 all sides, he will flutter along the hedge, so as to shelter 

 himself from the stoop of the Falcon. Many requisites are 

 necessary to aflx)rd this sport in perfection ; — a favourable 

 country, good Hawks, and able assistants." 



Magpies generally continue in j^airs all the year round. 

 They build in high trees, sometimes in a lofty hedge, and 

 occasionally in a low but thick bush, returning to the same 

 nest for several years in succession. The nest is well con- 

 structed for security against enemies ; it is of an oval shape, 

 and large, framed on the outside with sharp thorny sticks, 

 strongly interwoven, and forming a dome over the top. The 

 framework of sticks is plastered with earth on the inside, 

 and afterwards covered with a lining of fibrous roots and dry 

 grass. One small aperture is left on the side just large 

 enough to admit the parent bird ; she generally sits with her 

 head to the hole, ready to quit the nest on the slightest 

 alarm. 



The Magpie breeds early in spring, producing six or seven 

 eggs of a pale bluish-white colour, spotted all over with ash- 

 colour and two shades of greenish brown ; the length one 

 inch four lines and a half; the breadth one inch. 



When taken young the Magpie is easily tamed, chatters 

 to those who feed or notice him, imitates the sound of the 

 human voice, and learns many amusing tricks : the desire to 

 pilfer and hide any small shining article, observable in all the 

 birds of this family, is particularly conspicuous in the Mag- 



