MAGPIE. 119 



so late as the year 1711, it seems to have been confined to 

 the neighbourhood of Wexford, where, however, it must 

 have been introduced long prior to that period, since 

 Swift, in the following extract, speaks of it as indigenous 

 to that part of the country. The passage occurs in the 

 twenty-sixth letter of the Journal to Stella, under the 

 date of June 30, 1711, and is as follows : " Pray observe 

 the inhabitants about Wexford ; they are old English ; see 

 what they have particular in their manners, names, and 

 language. Magpies have been always there, and nowhere 

 else in Ireland, till of late years." It must be confessed 

 that the testimony afforded by this passage is not so explicit 

 as could be wished. That the Magpie existed always, or, 

 in other words, was indigenous to the vicinity of Wexford, 

 and to no other part of the country, is scarcely credible, 

 even if it were not directly contradicted by the preceding 

 quotation from Derrick. That it might have continued to 

 be a local denizen for a considerable time after its introduc- 

 tion, is more probable, and more in accordance with the 

 habits of the bird : and this circumstance of its locality pro- 

 bably gave origin to the popular idea expressed by Swift, of 

 its being indigenous to the county of Wexford. We may, 

 however, conclude with greater certainty, for upon this 

 point our authority is express, that it was only in the 

 reign of Queen Anne that the bird began to spread gene- 

 rally over the kingdom ; that is, at the same period as 

 the introduction of Frogs ; and indeed I have sometimes 

 heard these two events spoken of traditionally as having 

 been simultaneous. The town of Wexford is remarkable as 

 having been the first place of strength in the island which 

 was reduced and colonised by the English. Even to the 

 present day the great majority of the inhabitants of that 

 part of the country are of English extraction ; and it is not 

 improbable that their forefathers brought the Magpie with 



