298 THE MAGPIE 



her best affections, at his leisure, afterwards. But 

 as the male bird took good care of himself and 

 kept well out of shot, he grew impatient and 

 killed the mother-bird. What happened? The 

 male magpie, within a day or two, sought and 

 found a mate who was willing to take upon herself, 

 at a moment's notice, the duties of both wife and 

 mother, and she at once began to sit upon the alien 

 eggs. She shared her predecessor's fate ; and the 

 male bird was actually able to induce a third, and 

 even a fourth, helpmeet to perform the same 

 irksome duties, and to run the same risks, with 

 the same sad result. In another part of Scotland 

 a still more extraordinary case occurred. The 

 date, the place, and the names of the landowner 

 and the gamekeeper concerned, are all given, in 

 this case, as in the other, by Macgillivray.* The 

 male bird managed to escape the gamekeeper, but 

 no less than six successive female magpies were 

 shot sitting, one after the other, on the same eggs. 

 The questions which occur to one, in connection 

 with such a strange story, are legion ; but questions, 

 I fear, they must always remain. How could the 

 male bird find a disengaged female at that time of 

 year at all, and, still more, at so short a notice? 

 * British Birds, i. p. 570. 



