304 THE MAGPIE. 



When tame, it is a most amusing bird, teaching itself all kinds of odd tricks, and learning 

 to talk with an accuracy and volubility little inferior to that of the parrot. It is, however, a 

 most incorrigibly mischievous bird, and unless subjected to the most careful supervision is 

 capable of doing a very great amount of damage in a wonderfully short space of time. I have 

 witnessed a multitude of these exploits, but as I have already related many of them in my 

 "Feathered Friends," the reader is referred to the pages of that little work for a tolerably 

 long series of new and original Magpie anecdotes. 



Mr. Thompson tells an amusing story of a tame Magpie which struck up a friendship with 

 a peculiarly long-wooled sheep. The bird was accustomed to sit on the back of its friend, 

 couching luxuriantly upon the long thick fleece, and making short excursions among the sheep 

 for the purpose of pecking their legs, and making them run about. He also employed the 

 fleece of his friend as a treasury of stolen goods, being accustomed to hide his pilf erings among 

 the thick wool and mount guard over them. The same writer has published the following 

 interesting account of a tame Magpie belonging to a doctor, who communicated to him the 

 story, from which the following is an extract : 



"He was particularly fond of any shining article, such as spoons and trinkets ; these he 

 frequently stole, and we came upon his treasure-house in a remarkable way. There was an 

 old gentleman, a great friend of my father's, who resided with us almost continually. He 

 was of a peculiarly studious disposition, but from a deformity in his person used generally to 

 read standing, with his arms and breast resting on the back of a chair, and the book placed on 

 a table before him. After having read for a while, it was his habit to take off Ms spectacles, 

 lay them beside him, blow his nose, take a pinch of snuff, and after a few moments pondering 

 what he had been reading, resume the spectacles and proceed. 



" One very warm day I lay reading at the end of a room in which there was an open glass 

 door leading to the greenhouse ; in this room the old gentleman was most intently pursuing 

 his studies at a little distance from me. My attention was soon arrested by seeing the Magpie 

 perched upon the chair near him, eying him most intently, and with a very arch expression, 

 and at length, in an instant, he had with a most active hop reached the table, secured the red 

 leathern spectacle-case, and was out of the glass door with the most noiseless wing, and with a 

 very graceful motion. 



" I remained quiet, resolved to see the end of the joke. After a few seconds' absence, 

 ' Jack ' was again at his post, eying the old gentleman with a most inquisitive and yet busi- 

 ness-like glance ; it was nearly impossible to resist the ludicrous impression produced by the 

 entire scene. At length off came the spectacles, and out came the pocket-handkerchief and 

 snuff-box ; quick as thought Jack had visited the table and was out of the open door with the 

 prize, which I have no doubt had from the beginning been the object of his covetous admira- 

 tion while they were on the nose of the old gentleman. This time the Magpie did not return, 

 either because he found it more difficult to reach his store-house with the spectacles than with 

 the case, or because, having gained the object of his ambition, he conceived his presence was 

 no longer necessary. 



"At length, the period of rumination having elapsed, the old gentleman was about replac- 

 ing the spectacles. As soon as his surprise had abated at not finding them with his hand 

 beside him on the table, he removed the chair and groped about on the carpet, then raised the 

 book and examined every part of the table. Not being able to restrain myself any longer, I 

 exploded in laughter, and of course I was instantly suspected of playing off a practical joke, 

 and charged with taking the spectacles, but at length succeeded in convincing him that I had 

 never risen from the sofa on which I reclined. After a good deal of laughing, and two or 

 three other members of the family having been attracted to the room by the hubbub, I was 

 compelled under cross-examination to own that I had witnessed Jack's abstractions. 



" The question then became serious how the articles were to be recovered, and some person 

 suggested to leave a teaspoon near him and watch him. This was accordingly done, but his 

 motions were so rapid that he eluded us all, seeming at first to pass completely over the house. 

 At length, by placing two or three persons in favorable positions, he was ' marked* in a leaden 



