THE MAGPIE. 217 



it still retains the intense depth of the black. The birds 

 are, however, apt to vary in colour ; and we have met 

 with them marked with brown or buff; and some with 

 streaks and patches of white mixed with the black. 

 The general colour, however, is pure white on the 

 belly, the under sides of the wings, and the scapulars, 

 and black on the upper part, the beautiful irridescence 

 being most conspicuous on the wings and tail, the blue 

 and green on the former and the purple on the latter, 

 or rather the latter gives the greater play of colour, 

 though the former is more easily seen. 



The magpie is a small bird, compared with the rook; 

 it is two inches shorter and fourteen less in the stretch 

 of the wings; but as the tail of the magpie is much 

 longer in proportion than that of the rook, the body 

 of the bird is much shorter. The weight is not half 

 as much, not more than nine ounces, while the rook 

 weighs nineteen or twenty. The flight of the magpie 

 is laborious and short, and its favotirite motion is hop- 

 ping about, in doing which it seems to derive Consider- 

 able assistance from its long tail, over which it has 

 considerable power, and which it keeps constantly in 

 motion. 



In all its habits, indeed, the magpie bears a much 

 greater resemblance to the crows and ravens than to 

 the rook. It is much more a plunderer, especially of 

 nests ; and small birds which build in the same tree 

 with the rook, are rather shy of the vicinity of the 

 magpie. It may be found on the hedges, hopping 

 about, and prying into the bushes for the nests of the 

 hedge sparrows and linnets ; and it often searches the 

 thatch for those of sparrows ; but it does that very 

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