MAGPIE 



107 



shack - shack, or shackerackackack, and it has a chattering and by no means 

 agreeable voice, in which, when in captivity, it may be taught to speak a few 



words, and it may 

 also be taught to 

 whistle. The nest 

 is built of twigs, 

 and generally 

 domed, so that it 

 is nearly spherical, 

 the entrance be- 

 ing guarded with 

 thorns. It is often, 

 but not always, 

 built well up a tree 

 in a sheltered spot, 

 and it is always 

 clearly distinguish- 

 able, though it 

 might be mistaken 



for a roundish bundle of loose 

 faggot-wood if it were not for 

 its position. Sometimes a nest 

 will be made among the thicker 

 boughs of a tall hedge, though 

 oftener in a leafy tree just 

 within a wood or on the skirt 

 of a clearing. Throughout 

 the magpie. Europe the choice of the site 



of a nest appears as capricious 

 as in England, and there are more nests than magpies, for, like the wren, the 

 magpie builds nests that are left unfinished but can be quickly completed 

 when required. There are in fact several nests, which it uses alternately, 



