MAGPIE. 113 



world wliere both breeds thrive better or foster than in Ire- 

 land. 



Smith, in his " History of Cork," says the Magpie was 

 not known in Ireland seventy years before the time at which 

 he wrote, about 1746. Tradition says, also, that they were 

 driven over to Ireland from England during a storm. 



From Pembrokeshire to Wexford would not be a difficult 

 flight. 



The Magpie is common in Scotland ; but according to Mr. 

 Macgillivray it is not found in the outer Hebrides, in Ork- 

 ney, or in Shetland. 



In France the Magpie is one of the few birds, if not the 

 only one, Avhich no one seems to destroy, and it is according- 

 ly very common ; while all other birds, — at least, as it ap- 

 peared to me when in that country, — are remarkably scarce. 

 In Sweden, neither the Magpie, its nest, nor its eggs, are ever 

 touched ; while in the adjoining country, Mr. Hcwitson, of 

 Newcastle, says,* " The Magpie is one of the most abund- 

 ant, as well as the most interesting of the Norwegian birds ; 

 noted for its sly cunning habits here, its altered demeanour 

 there is the more remarkable. It is upon the most familiar 

 terms with the inhabitants, picking close about their doors, 

 and sometimes walking inside their houses. It abounds in 

 the town of Drontheim, making its nest upon the churches 

 and warehouses. We saw as many as a dozen of them at 

 one time seated upon the gravestones in the churchyard. 

 Few farmhouses are without several of them breeding under 

 the eaves, their nest supported by the spout. In some trees 

 close to houses their nests were several feet in depth, the 

 accumulation of years of undisturbed and quiet possession." 



" The inhabitants of Norway pleased us very much by the 

 kind feeling which they seemed to entertain towards them, 

 as well as to most species of birds, often expressing a hope 

 * Magazine of Zoology and Colany, vol. ii. p. 311. 



VOL. II. I 



