THE MAGPIE. 235 



is the object of the jackdaw's visit to the backs of 

 sheep and oxen : it goes there for fleece ; the 

 magpie for filth. 



I cannot suppose, with some naturalists, that the 

 dome of the magpie's nest is intended for a defence; 

 because the hole at which the bird enters is always 

 open to an enemy, while the contents of the nest 

 are quite visible through the dome itself. 



The young of the magpie being hatched blind, 

 the eggs are never covered when the parent bird 

 leaves the nest. I am satisfied in my own mind, 

 that neither the magpie, iior any other bird, can 

 have the least idea that their nests will be robbed, 

 up to the very moment when their eggs, or their 

 young, are taken away. Did they apprehend such 

 a disaster, we may be assured that their first object 

 would be to build their nests in a place out of 

 harm's way. Now, the magpie generally chooses 

 the site for its intended incubation in a spot the 

 most exposed that can possibly be imagined. It 

 will continue to work at the structure of its nest, 

 although we visit the nest two or three times a day; 

 and it will return to the nest, and sit upon its eggs, 

 after those eggs have been handled times out of 

 number. Nay, more ; you may take away its own 

 eggs, and substitute those of some other bird, and it 

 will hatch them, and rear the produce. 



The magpie (and we may include all other birds) 

 shows not that intensity of feeling for its eggs 

 which it is known to have for its young. Thus, 

 if you take the eggs from the nest and place them 

 on the ground, the magpie will abandon them for 



