THE SPIRIT OF AUSTRALIA 157 



fact itself all Australians will agree. (Indeed, there 

 was a suggestion put forward a short time ago that 

 the Magpie, erroneously so called in the beginning 

 because of its superficial resemblance to the pied 

 bird of England, should be re-christened the "Anzac- 

 Bird.") It is true that there are one or two black 

 and white birds of a non-fighting nature, but it 

 will usually be found that these species are 

 dwellers in the forest or scrub, that they are less 

 plentiful than the pied birds of the open spaces, and 

 that in practically every case, the females of the 

 species (as distinct from the wives of such birds 

 as the Pee-wee, the Wagtail, and the Magpie) are 

 quietly garbed. 



Carrying on the reflection, it seems to me that so 

 many common Australian birds are not fightable 

 in spite of their conspicuous coloring, but because 

 of that very fact. They have none of the protec- 

 tive coloration which plays so large a part in the 

 scheme and balance of Nature ; therefore they must 

 needs be endowed with some other special ability to 

 protect themselves and their offspring. Further, 

 as that same conspicuous coloration would render 

 negative any general attempt on the part of such 

 birds to obscure themselves, Nature has decreed 

 that they shall face the world boldly protected by 

 their very prominence.* 



*"It is interesting to note," writes Mr. H. J. Massingham, 

 in his diary of a pied day spent among the birds of South- 

 west Dorset, "how kindred are the characters of mapgie and 

 wagtail. . . . But the magpie, like the wagtail, possesses 

 that impulsive, irrepressible temper which, alas! so often 

 betrays him to the killer." Contemporary Review. August, 

 1919. 



