CH. VIII.] ARE MAGPIES NOMADS? 245 



purpose, as they shew well, and are easy of imita- 

 tion. Of course the closer the resemblance is, the 

 better, but even if it be but rudely approximated 

 to, the success of the bait is extraordinary. Four 

 or five of these eggs should be placed in a sham 

 or real nest on a stage made against a tree a 

 few feet from the ground, leaving just room for 

 the gin, which should have a little branch or two 

 on either side of it, so as to bar access to the 

 nest save 'via the gin. The peculiar advantages 

 of this plan are that it can be pursued with 

 destructive effect (somewhat strange to say) all 

 through the winter, when natural eggs are not 

 easily attainable, and that the sham eggs can 

 be carried loose in the pocket without fear of 

 breaking them. 



I have occasionally seen Magpies on high, 

 exposed, down-land collected together in such (for 

 them) extraordinary numbers from twenty-five to 

 thirty in a flock that I cannot but think they 

 must be to a certain extent nomads, and shift 

 their quarters in company, like swallows; parti- 

 cularly as I am persuaded that the immediate 

 neighbourhood could not, unaided, have furnished 

 so many, and these flocks have, so far as I know, 

 only been seen early in the Spring, long after 



