74 BIRDS I'KRCHING BIRDS DIAGRAM 4. 



with moss or grass. The female lays five or six eggs in March ; 

 they are pale bluish-green, with blotches. The male helps to 

 sit, and to rear the young. The ravens are courageous, and are 

 not afraid of either cats or dogs; they are attached to their 

 master, and have been known, after having left the house to 

 return to a wild life, to come back of themselves daily to the 

 place where they received food, and where they were never injured. 

 They live very long it is said for a century. 



The JRooks and Jackdaws are much smaller than the raven, 

 and live in flocks, either in groves or in the steeples of churches. 

 They go to a distance, in flocks, to seek their food, which varies 

 according to the country and season. In some places they are 

 looked upon as mischievous, and in others as useful. We have 

 pointed out the means for ascertaining the truth of this, in each 

 district. In the evening, the whole flock returns to the grove or 

 the steeple, and, after uttering loud cries, go to sleep. 



The Magpies, unlike the rooks and jackdaws, live in couples in 

 the neighbourhood of houses. Their plumage is black, with the 

 belly and part of the wings white. The magpie is celebrated 

 for its cunning, and for its propensity to carry off and hide 

 whatever it meets with. It lays up in autumn a store of dried 

 fruits for the winter. Both sexes work at the construction of 

 the nest. It is often built at the tops of trees, and is constructed 

 externally of twigs plastered together with mud ; and is covered 

 by a kind of roof made of small thorny branches firmly inter- 

 laced. There is one door for entrance, and another for exit. 

 The bottom of the nest is lined with fine and flexible roots. 

 The female lays seven or eight eggs, on which both sexes sit 

 alternately. 



The Jay has a more brilliant plumage than the other birds of 

 this family ; it is intelligent, and can be taught to whistle, and 

 even to talk like a parrot. 



Blackbirds, Thrushes, and Orioles form a small family of 

 European birds. The oriole is of a fine yellow colour, and 

 makes a nest which is always suspended like a cradle to the fork 



