THE HE KIND. IK. 



The thrush and the blackbird are but too frequently robbed by this 

 assassin, and this in some measure causes their scarcity. 



No food seems to come amiss to this bird ; it shares with ravens in 

 their carrion, with rooks in their grain, and with the cuckoo in birds' 

 eggs. : but it seems possessed of a providence seldom usual with glut- 

 tons ; for when it is satisfied for the present, it lays up the remainder 

 of the feast for another occasion. It will, even in a tame state, hide 

 its food when it has done eating, and after a time return to the secret 

 hoard with renewed appetite and vociferation. 



In all its habits it discovers a degree of instinct unusual to other 

 birds. Its nest is not less remarkable for the manner in which it is 

 composed, than for the place the magpie takes to build it in. The 

 nest is usually placed conspicuous enough, either in the middle of 

 some hawthorn bush, or on 1 the top of some high tree. The place 

 however, is always found difficult of access ; for the tree pitched upon 

 usually grows in some thick hedge-row, fenced by brambles at the 

 root, or sometimes one of the higher bushes is fixed upon for the pur- 

 pose. When the place is thus chosen as inaccessible as possible to 

 men, the next care is to fence the nest above so as to defend it from 

 all the various enemies of air. The kite, the crow, and the sparrow- 

 hawk, are to be guarded against, as their nests have been sometimes 

 plundered by the magpie, so it is reasonably feared that they will take 

 the first opportunity to retaliate. To prevent this, the magpie's nest 

 is built with surprising labour and ingenuity. 



The body of the nest is composed of hawthorn branches, the thorns 

 sticking outward, but well united together by their mutual insertions. 

 Within it is lined with fibrous roots, wool, and long grass, and then 

 nicely plastered all round with mud and clay. The body of the nest 

 being thus made firm and commodious, the next work is to make the 

 canopy which is to defend it above. This is composed of the sharp 

 est thorns, wove together in such a manner as to deny all entrance 

 except at the door, which is just large enough to permit egress and 

 regress to the owners. In this fortress the male and female hatch 

 and bring up their brood with security, sheltered from all attacks but 

 those of the climbing schoolboy, who often finds his torn and bloody 

 hands too dear a price for the eggs or the young ones. The magpie 

 lays six or seven eggs, of a pale green colour, spotted with brown. 



This bird, in its domestic state, preserves its natural character with 

 strict propriety. The same noisy mischievous habits attend it to the 

 cage that marked it in the woods, and being more cunning, so il is 

 also a more docile bird than any other taken into keeping. Those 

 who are desirous of teaching it to speak, have a foolish custom of cut- 

 ting its tongue, which only puts the poor animal to pain, without im- 

 proving its speech in the smallest degree. Its speaking is sometimes 

 very distinct, but its sounds are too thin and sharp to be an exact imi- 

 tation of the human voice, which the hoarse raven and parrot can coun- 

 terfeit more exactly. 



To this tribe we may refer the Jay, which is one of the most beau- 

 tiful of the British birds. The forehead is white, streaked with black; 

 the head is covered with very long feathers, which it can erect .'nto a 

 crest at pleasure; the whole neck, back, breast, and belly are of a 

 faint purple, dashed with gray ; the wings are most beautifully barred 



