FAVOURITE LOCALITIES 297 



sometimes constructs a dummy nest or two, near 

 to her proper one, not, I think, with any definite 

 notion of occupying them ; but rather, as does a 

 squirrel or a jenny wren, either as something to fall 

 back upon, a reserve, in case of need, or as likely 

 to mislead a birds'-nester. 



I am convinced, after fifty years of observation, 

 that the magpie, if unmolested, will invariably 

 return, either in her own person, or in that of her 

 offspring, with true raven-like fidelity to the wood 

 or clump of trees in which she first saw the light. 

 There were not less than eight of such hereditary 

 fastnesses or freeholds, within a radius of four miles 

 from my old home at Stafford, in which, year after 

 year, I could safely count on finding, and watching 

 from first to last, a magpie's nest. 



On occasion, the magpie has been known to 

 outdo even the raven in his affection I do not 

 say for his mate but for his home and for the 

 offspring which, in germ, were housed within it. 

 Towards the end of the earlier half of the last 

 century, a pair of magpies built their nest within 

 forty yards of a stable in Scotland. The owner 

 tried as gamekeepers, skilled in their murderous 

 profession always do to shoot the male bird first, 

 sure of being able to get at the female, through 



