EGG-DEVOURERS. 311 



However the magpie may feed on the eggs of others, 

 it is particularly careful to guard its own nest 

 from similar injuries by covering it with an im- 

 penetrable canopy of thorns, and is our only bird 

 that uses such a precaution, securing it from all 

 common depredation, though not from the hand of 

 a bird-nesting schoolboy. Audubon relates the 

 same fact as to the thievish conduct of the Ameri- 

 can crow. The most remarkable feat of this crow 

 is the nicety with which it pierces an egg with its 

 bill, in order to carry it off and eat it with se- 

 curity. In this manner it has been seen in the act 

 of stealing, one after another, all the eggs of a wild 

 turkey's nest. Sometimes, however, this theft is 

 retaliated upon the American crow by the jay. 

 When in the Bay of Fundy, Audubon watched 

 several mornings in succession a theft of this kind. 

 A jay sat patiently observing the departure of a 

 crow from off her nest, and as soon as the coast was 

 clear, the jay immediately repaired to the nest and 

 carried off the egg. The blue jay, a splendid 

 robber of the most graceful proportions, arrayed in 

 the most beautiful garb, and altogether an elegant 

 and charming bird, to all appearance, is described 

 by Audubon as a being full of selfishness, duplicity, 



