322 THE MAGPIE. 



to wit), bring out the addle egg, which has remained from the last 

 year's incubation, and drop it on the ground, when they begin to 

 renew the nest. The magpie builds its nest in any tree, no matter 

 of what kind ; and it is very partial even to the lowly thorn bush 

 in the hedgerow. The apple tree in the garden, the lonely ash in the 

 meadow, the alder in the swamp, and the oak in the heart of the 

 forest, far from the abode of man all have their attractions for the 

 magpie; and in these it will form its nest, which is invariably com- 

 posed of sticks, and clay or earth, and lined with fibrous roots. 

 When I am informed that magpies line their nest with wool, I suspect 

 that there is either an error in the statement, or that the modern 

 magpie has conformed to the times, and has brought to her nest a kind 

 of furniture wholly unknown to her ancestors. The magpie lays from 

 three to nine eggs; but seven seems to be the average number, vary- 

 ing in size and shape and colour, as much as those of the carrion 

 crow. 



The female magpie has so near a resemblance to the male, that 

 you can scarcely distinguish the one from the other. This is the 

 case with all birds, where the brilliant plumage obtains before the 

 first moulting. 



The sight of a magpie always gives me pleasure its long tail, and 

 its distinct markings of white and black, having a beautiful effect as 

 it darts through the air. You may know this bird at a very great 

 distance, either on the ground or in a tree, by the frequent and brisk 

 movement of its tail always up and down, never sideways. The 

 magpie seems to have found out that it has at least one friend left in 

 our part of the country. Last year I had thirty-four nests, all of 

 which ushered their young into the world at large, making on an 

 average of five to the nest, including the parent birds, 238 indi- 

 viduals ; an increase quite sufficient, one would think, to supply all 

 the wise men of the county with any quantity of omens. The name 

 of wise-man, in Yorkshire, is always given to one who professes to 

 deal in the black art. Even well-educated people of the nineteenth 

 century go to him in order to recover things lost, or to be put on 

 the right scent, if a cow, or horse, or pig, or relative, be missing. 



Magpies are social, though not gregarious in the strictest sense of 

 the word. In places where they are beyond the reach of molesta- 



