ONTARIO. 



smaller- wing coverts, black secondary and primary coverts, glossed with 

 green and blue ; primaries, black, glossed with green, their inner webs white 

 except at the end; secondaries bright blue changing to green, the inner webs 

 greenish-black ; tail, glossed with green, changing to bluish-purple and dark- 

 green at the end ; breast and sides, pure white ; legs, abdomen, lower tail- 

 coverts, black Length, 18-20 inches. 



HAB. Northern and Western North America, casually east and south to 

 Michigan (accidently in Northern Illinois in winter) and the Plains, and in 

 the Rocky Mountains to New Mexico and Arizona. 



Nest, in a tree, 10 or 12 feet or more from the ground ; built of coarse 

 sticks, plastered with mud and lined with hair, feathers and other soft 

 materials. 



Eggs, 5 or 6; greenish, thickly shaded and dashed with purplish-brown. 



The gaudy, garrulous Magpie is, on the American continent, 

 peculiar to the north and west, and is mentioned as a bird of 

 Ontario on the authority of Mr. C. J. Bampton, Registrar of the 

 District of Algoma, who reports it as a rare winter visitor at 

 Sault St. Marie. It has been seen by surveying parties along 

 the northern tier of States, and is said to be possessed of all 

 the accomplishments attributed to the British Magpie, whose 

 history has been so often written. Mr. Trippe, who found it 

 breeding in Colorado, describes the nest as having two aper- 

 tures, one at each side, so that when the bird enters by the front 

 it leaves by the one at the back, and while sitting on the nest the 

 long tail projects outside. 



The Magpie is a gay, dashing fellow, whom we always like 

 to see in his native haunts, and we would welcome him to the 

 woods of Southern Ontario should his curiosity lead him this 

 way. 



In the rural districts of Scotland these birds are regarded 

 with suspicion, from the belief that they know more than birds 

 ought to know. They are supposed to indicate future joy or 

 sorrow to the wayfarer, according to the number he sees together, 

 the idea being thus expressed in popular rhyme : one, mirth ; 

 two, grief; three, a wedding; four, a death. 



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