188 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 ex- 

 pect 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 landscapes. 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 their vociferation. In 

 those luxuriant forests, the singing-birds are 

 scarcely 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 spectator, 

 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 



