IMK. 319 



In 1589, one Robert Payne wrote ' A Brife description of 

 Ireland ' the apparently unique copy of the second edition 

 of which was reprinted by Dr. Aquilla Smith among the 

 ' Tracts ' published by the Irish Archaeological Society in 

 1841, and herein (i. no. 2, p. 14) we find it remarked that in 

 Ireland " There is neither mol, pye, nor carren crow ". In 

 1617, Fynes Moryson was still able to repeat (Itinerary, pt. 

 iii. bk. iii. p. 160) " Ireland hath neither singing Nightin- 

 gall, nor chattering Pye, nor vndermining Moule " ; but in 

 1711, Dean Swift, writing in his 'Journal' to "Stella" 

 (Esther Johnson) says (letter xxvi.), under date of July 9, 

 1711, of Wexford : " magpies have been always there, and 

 no where else in Ireland, till of late years."* This state- 

 ment, though no doubt partly erroneous, points to the first 

 appearance of the bird in the south-east of the island. 

 K'eogh, in 1739, included it as an Irish species in his 

 ' Zoologia .Medicinalis ', assigning it (p. 61) a native name 

 " Maggidipye" t; and Charles Smith, writing about 1746, 

 says (Antient and Present State &c. of Cork, ii. p. 325), 



* Hereon Ogilby writing to the Author says : " It must be confessed that the 

 testimony afforded by this passage is not so explicit as could be wished. That the 

 Magpie existed always, or, in other words, was indigenous to the vicinity of Wex- 

 ford, and to no other part of the country, is scarcely credible, even if it were not 

 directly contradicted by the preceding quotation from Derrick. That it might 

 have continued to be a local denizen for a considerable time after its introduction, 

 is more probable, and more in accordance with the habits of the bird : and this 

 circumstance of its locality probably gave origin to the popular idea expressed by 

 Swift, of its being indigenous to the county of Wexford. We may, however, con- 

 clude with greater certainty, for upon this point our authority is express, that 

 it was only in the reign of Queen Anne that the bird began to spread generally 

 over the kingdom ; that is, at the same period as the introduction of Frogs ; 

 and indeed I have sometimes heard these two events spoken of traditionally as 

 having been simultaneous. The town of Wexford is remarkable as having been 

 the first place of strength in the island which was reduced and colonised by the 

 English. Even to the present day the great majority of the inhabitants of that 

 part of the country are of English extraction ; and it is not improbable that 

 their forefathers brought the Magpie with them from England, perhaps as a pet, 

 to put them in mind of their native land ; for it is tcarcely possible that any 

 one would voluntarily introduce so mischievous an animal. At all events, 

 St. Patrick's curse, which is said to rest so heavily on the whole tribe of serpents, 

 does not appear to have extended to Frogs and Magpies, for I know no part of 

 the world where both breeds thrive better or faster than in Ireland." 



f Dr. A. Smith hereon observes : "This evidently Anglo-Irish word, for we 

 VOL. II. T T 



