Ill A HISTORY OF 



CHAPTER III. 



OF THE MAGPIE AND ITS AFFINITIES 



THERE are such a variety of birds that may be distributed under 

 this head, that we must not expect very precise ideas of any. To 

 have a straight strong bill, legs formed for hopping, a body of about 

 the size of a magpie, and party-coloured plumage, are the only marks 

 by which I must be contented to distinguish this numerous fantastic 

 tribe that add to the beauty, though not to the harmony of our land- 

 scapes. In fact, their chattering every where disturbs the melody of 

 the lesser warblers ; and their noisy courtship not a little damps the 

 song of the linnet and the nightingale. 



However, we have very few of this kind in our woods compared to 

 those in the neighbourhood of the line. There they not only paint 

 the scene with the beauty and the variety of their plumage, but stun 

 the ear with vociferation. In those luxurious forests, the singing 

 birds are scarce 'ever heard, but a hundred varieties of the pie, the 

 jay, the roller, the chatterer, and the toucan, are continually in motion, 

 and with their illusive mockeries disturb or divert the spectators, as 

 he happens to be disposed. 



The magpie is the chief of this kind with us, and is too well known 

 to need a description. Indeed, were its other accomplishments equal 

 to its beauty, few birds could be put in competition. Its black, its 

 white, its green, and purple, with rich and gilded combination of the 

 glosses on its tail, are as fine as any that adorn the most beautiful of 

 the feathered tribe. But it has too many of the qualities of a beau to 

 depreciate these natural perfections : vain, restless, loud, and quar- 

 relsome, it is an unwelcome intruder every where, and never misses 

 an opportunity when it finds one, of doing mischief. 



The magpie bears a great resemblance to the butcher-bird in its 

 bill, which has a sharp process near 'the end of the upper chap, as 

 well as in the shortness of its wings, and the form of the tail, each 

 feather shortening from the two middlemost. But it agrees still more 

 in its food, living not only upon worms and insects, but also upon 

 small birds when they can be seized. A wounded lark, or a young 

 chicken separated from the hen, are sure plunder ; and the magpie 

 will even sometimes set upon and strike a blackbird. 



The same insolence prompts it to teaze the largest animals when 

 its insults can be offered with security. They often are seen perch- 

 ed upon the back of an ox or a sheep, pecking up the insects to be 

 found there, chattering and tormenting the poor animal at the same 

 time, and stretching out their necks for combat, if the beast turns its 

 head backward to reprehend them. They seek out also the nests of 

 birds, and if the parent escapes, the eggs make up for the deficiency 



