40 THE MAGPIE 



upon wild fruits, including acorns and beech-mast, and at times 

 is very destructive to peas in gardens. Taken young, the jay is 

 easily tamed, and is very amusing when domesticated, the bird 

 possessing considerable talents for mimicry, frequently being 

 taught to articulate words. 



The MAGPIE (Pica caudata or rustica) belongs to the Conirostral 

 or " conical-beaked " section of the perching birds, and is included 

 in the family of the true crows (Corvinae). It averages about 

 18 in. in length, weighing from 8 to 10 oz. The tail is elongated 

 and thus distinguished from the ordinary crows. The beak, wjngs, 

 and tail are black ; the wings especially, and the tail also, being 

 variegated with white, and with shades of blue, purple, and green. 

 The magpies, like the jays, are semi-gregarious in all seasons but 

 the breeding, which occurs in the spring, the pair of magpies build- 

 ing an oval nest in a thicket of high bushes or trees, and completely 

 covered in by thorny twigs effectually protecting and concealing 

 it, the entrance being on one side and the inside lined with mud, 

 whilst the bottom is covered with a layer of soft grass and plant 

 materials for safely containing the eggs and forming a comfortable 

 home. The eggs are from five to seven in number, and are of a 

 pale greenish colour, closely spotted with dark brown or black. 

 The magpie inhabits woods and thickets, but is more disposed to 

 scour the country than the jay, and feeds upon Crustacea, Mollusca, 

 and insects, eggs and feeble young of other birds, and carrion. In 

 rural districts the magpie is still regarded by some persons with a 

 superstitious fear, and its talking habits, and thieving propensities 

 under domestication render it disfavoured by many individuals. 

 My father was an adept at domesticating jays, magpies, and 

 jackdaws, teaching them to repeat words and even short sentences, 

 a well-known trait of the magpie in the time of Plutarch, who, in 

 classical times, gives an account of a talking magpie, which belonged 

 to a barber in Rome. 



The ROOK (Corvus frugilegus) , Fig. 32, included in the sub-family 

 of the Corvinae or true Crows of Conirostal Insessors, possesses 

 its distinctive characters in the base of the bill being naked, as 

 well as the forehead and upper part of the throat, which parts in 

 the Crow are feathered, though in the young rook feathers exist 

 at the base of the bill, but these disappear when the bird is a month 

 old. The wings of the rook are long and somewhat rounded, so 

 that it is capable of long flight and performing sundry evolutions 

 in the air. Its colour is black with a bluish sheen, and the length 

 of the bird is 19 in. 



Rooks are gregarious, and in autumn and winter have particular 

 roosting-places, where they congregate in vast numbers in a certain 

 wood, and include the scattered broods for a considerable 

 distance around. In the early spring or late winter they pair and 

 repair, in part to new or former nesting-places, such as a grove of 



