MAGPIES. 20 I 



The following instance, which fell under the observation of 

 a gentleman when making an excursion in a remote and barren 

 part of the north of Scotland, not only corroborates the state- 

 ment from Norway and Sweden, but is attended with many 

 other interesting particulars of the sagacity shown by a pair 

 of Magpies. Observing them hopping round a gooseberry- 

 bush, and flying in and out in an extraordinary manner, he 

 noticed the circumstance to the owners of the house in which 

 he was, who informed him that as there were no trees in the 

 neighbourhood, they had for several years built their nest and 

 brought up their young in that busk And that foxes, cats, 

 hawks, &c, might not interrupt them, they had barricaded 

 not only the nest, but the bush itself all round, with briers 

 and thorns, in a formidable manner. The materials of the 

 nest all round on the outside were so rough, strong, and firmly 

 entwined with the bush, that, without a hedge-knife or some- 

 thing of the kind, even a man could not, without much pain 

 and trouble, get at their young ; the barrier from the outer to 

 the inner edge being above a foot in breadth. Frogs, mice, 

 worms, or anything living, were plentifully brought to their 

 young. One day, one of the parent birds attacked a rat, and 

 not being able to kill it, one of the young ones came out of the 

 nest and assisted in its destruction, which was not finally 

 accomplished till the other old one, arriving with a dead mouse, 

 also lent its aid. The female was observed to be the most 

 active and thievish, and withal very ungrateful ; for although 

 the children about the house had often frightened cats and 

 hawks from the spot, yet she one day seized a chicken, and 

 carried it to the top of the house to eat it, where the hen im- 

 mediately followed, and having rescued the chicken, brought 

 it safely down in her beak ; and it was remarked that the poor 

 little bird, though it made a great noise while the Magpie was 

 carrying it up, was quite quiet, and seemed to feel no pain 

 while its mother was carrying it down. These Magpies were 

 supposed to have been the very same pair which had built 

 there for several years, never suffering either the young, when 

 grown up, or anything else, to take possession of their bush. 

 The nest they carefully fortified afresh every spring with 



