120 CORVID^. 



them from England, perhaps as a pet, to put them in mind 

 of their native land ; for it is scarcely possible that any one 

 would voluntarily introduce so mischievous an animal. At 

 all events, St. Patrick's curse, which is said to rest so 

 heavily on the whole tribe of serpents, does not appear to 

 have extended to Frogs and Magpies, for I know no part 

 of the world where both breeds thrive better or faster than 

 in Ireland. 



Smith, in his History of Cork, says, the Magpie was not 

 known in Ireland seventy years before the time at which 

 he wrote, about 1746. Tradition says, also, that they were 

 driven over to Ireland from England during a storm. 



From Pembrokeshire to Wexford would not be a diffi- 

 cult flight. 



The Magpie is common in Scotland ; but according to 

 Mr. Macgillivray it is not found in the outer Hebrides, in 

 Orkney, or in Shetland.. 



In France the Magpie is one of the few birds, if not the 

 only one, which no one seems to destroy, and it is accord- 

 ingly very common ; while all other birds, at least, as it 

 appeared to me when in that country, are remarkably 

 scarce. In Sweden, neither the Magpie, its nest, nor its 

 eggs, are ever touched ; while in the adjoining country, 

 Mr. Hewitson, of Newcastle, says,* " The Magpie is one 

 of the most abundant, as well as the most interesting of the 

 Norwegian birds ; noted for its sly cunning habits here, its 

 altered demeanour there is the more remarkable. It is 

 upon the most familiar terms with the inhabitants, picking 

 close about their doors, and sometimes walking inside their 

 houses. It abounds in the town of Drontheim, making its 

 nest upon the churches and warehouses. We saw as many 

 as a dozen of them at one time seated upon the gravestones 

 in the churchyard. Few farmhouses are without several of 

 * Magazine of Zoology and Botany, vol. ii. p. 311. 



