PLATE I 

 MAGPIE. Pica rustica 



April 24/7^, 1894. The nest from which this Plate was taken was built in 

 a small fir plantation in Tweedsmuir; the trees in the wood were very small, 

 the tallest being only about eighteen feet. The nest was very open, and the 

 eggs easily visible from the next tree, where I managed to set up my camera. 

 This was the only pair of Magpies in the district, and I only heard of it 

 by chance from one of the keepers, who was on his way to the plantation to 

 shoot the old birds. He failed, however, to do so that day, so I got my 

 photograph before the nest was destroyed. 



135 



