THE MAGPIE AND THE JAY 245 



fication of self-importance. It hops about with 

 a swing of the tail and a roll of its body, with such 

 a knowing look in its beady dark eye, and such 

 an impudent cock of the head, that the onlooker 

 cannot help but laugh ; indeed, a party of 

 magpies feeding out in a meadow is a most 

 amusing sight. They hop about so busily, turning 

 over the cow manure, hunting for insects, and 

 then stopping to have a dispute. Not long 

 ago I watched some that were busy among 

 a flock of sheep. One of the magpies suddenly 

 hopped up on to the back of a sheep that was 

 lying peaceably at rest, whereupon another 

 hopped up after it. The first turned round 

 and chattered angrily at the second, but number 

 two was not going to give ground, and a fight 

 began. Up and down the sheep's broad 

 woolly back they danced, until one drove the 

 other up on to its head, which disturbed even 

 the sheep's placid serenity. It shook its head, 

 rose with deliberation, and tilted the combatants 

 off its back on to the ground, where, swinging 

 their tails in high disdain of each other, they 

 hopped off in opposite directions, and resumed 

 their business of searching for insects and 

 worms among the sheep droppings and the cow 

 manure. 



Both the magpie and the jay are great insect 

 eaters, devouring quantities of grubs, caterpillars, 

 etc., but, unfortunately for themselves, they 

 like other things as well; indeed, there is very 

 little they will not eat, from carrion, eggs, and 



