THE MAGPIE 11 



present itself in the way of insects or young birds ; and 

 though conspicuous in its slow dipping flight from tree to 

 tree, it is perhaps more often heard than seen. Its ordi- 

 nary notes are certainly not more melodious than those of 

 the home Magpie, one native name, ' ' Handi-chancha 

 well expressing one of them ; but it can produce some very 

 pretty metallic sounds if it likes. Whether it can learn to 

 talk I do not know ; the natives, at all events, do not 

 seem to make a pet of it, although one may now and then 

 see the young birds on sale in the Bazaars. They may be 

 known at once by their resemblance to their parents, 

 though they are much lighter in colour, being buff instead 

 of cinnamon. Of the old birds both sexes are alike, as is 

 the rule among the crow tribe. At first sight the long-tailed, 

 short- winged, and short-legged Indian Pie looks very differ- 

 ent from the well-proportioned crow, none of whose members 

 are unduly developed ; but she has much the same charac- 

 ter of cautious audacity, and, although not a " galley- 

 ranger ' ' like her black kindred, is very accommodating 

 in appetite. Jerdon relates a case in which one used to 

 daily visit a cage of small birds in a verandah, at first in 

 order to eat the seed supplied to them ; soon, however, he 

 passed from petty larceny to murder, and was ultimately 

 executed. 



No doubt Pies, even more than crows, act as a healthy 

 check on the exuberant domesticity of Philip Sparrow, 

 which would otherwise overflow in those arboreal colonies 

 in which his soul delights in safer localities than Calcutta. 

 But Mag cannot be a very dangerous neighbour to most 

 small birds, seeing that they flourish so well in our midst 



