APRIL. 



covered with ivy. The nest is a mere layer of 

 sticks, through which the two white eggs may 

 be often seen from the ground. The hawk 

 chooses the tops of the loftiest trees ; and the 

 magpie's nest may be seen in early spring 

 in the tops of the leafless trees, a large cone 

 of thorns, which is daubed internally with 

 mud and lined with fine fibrous roots. It 

 sometimes also builds in tall hawthorn hedges. 

 Wherever it be, wild or tame, it is the monkey 

 of birds, full of mischief and mimickry. A 

 gentleman told me, that one he kept having 

 stolen various articles was watched by him 

 narrowly ; and at length was seen by him busy 

 in the garden gathering pebbles, and with 

 much solemnity and a studied air dropping 

 them into a hole about eighteen inches deep, 

 made to ^receive a line-post. After dropping 

 each stone, it cried " carack \" triumphantly, 

 and set off for another. Making himself sure 

 that he had found the objects of his search, the 

 gentleman went to the place, and found in the 

 hole a poor toad which the magpie was stoning 

 for his amusement. 



One of the most interesting birds is the lap- 

 wing. Its plaintive cry belongs to solitary 



