THE MAGPIE. 261 



joined, moreover, to an unscrupulous habit of purloining 

 everything that takes its roving fancy. Even when sur- 

 rounded by plenty and pampered with delicacies it prefers 

 a stolen morsel to what is legally its own. Little wonder 

 then that when it has to hunt on its own account for 

 the necessaries of life, and is stimulated besides by the 

 cravings of its hungry brood, it has gained an unenviable 

 notoriety as a prowling bandit. In the harrying of birds' 

 nests no schoolboy can compete with it ; Partridges and 

 Pheasants are watched to their retreat and plundered mer- 

 cilessly of their eggs and young ; the smaller birds are 

 treated in like manner ; hares and rabbits, if they suffer 

 themselves to be surprised, have their eyes picked out and 

 are torn to pieces ; rats, mice, and frogs are a lawful prey ; 

 carrion, offal of all kinds, snails, worms, grubs, and cater- 

 pillars, each in turn pleasantly vary the diet and, when 

 in season, grain and fruit are attacked with as much 

 audacity as is consistent with safety ; and might, whenever 

 available, gives a right to stray chickens and ducklings. 

 The young birds, nurtured in an impregnable stronghold, 

 and familiarized from their earliest days with plunder, 

 having no song to learn save the note of caution and alarm 

 when danger is near, soon become adepts in the arts of 

 their parents, and, before their first moult, are a set of 

 inquisitive chattering marauders, wise enough to keep near 

 the haunts of men because food is there most abundant, 

 cautious never to come within reach of the fowling piece, 

 and cunning enough to carry off the call-bird from the net 

 without falling themselves into the snare. Even in capti- 

 vity, with all their drollery, they are unamiable. 



Magpies, though generally distributed, are far more 

 numerous in some districts than others. In Cornwall they 

 are very abundant ; hence I have heard them called Cornish 

 Pheasants. In Ireland they are said to be of comparatively 

 recent introduction.* It is stated that they are in France 



* See Yarrell's "British Birds," vol. ii. p. 113. 



