234) THE MAGPIE. 



apt to imagine it must have found its way here 

 from the blazing latitudes of the south. 



I am fully aware that it has propensities of a 

 sufficiently predatory nature to bring it into general 

 disrepute with civilised man ; but let us remember 

 that, like the carrion crow, it only exercises them 

 to any serious extent for about two months in the 

 spring of the year. At that season, it certainly 

 commences operations with surprising assiduity. 

 Cacus himself, that ancient thief, when he was 

 about to steal the cows of Hercules, never ex- 

 hibited greater cunning than that which this bird 

 puts in practice after it has discovered a hen's nest 

 in the yard, or a place of sitting game in the field. 

 Both the magpie and the carrion crow transfix 

 the eggs with their beaks, and then convey them 

 through the air. 



After the season of incubation is over, the mag- 

 pie becomes a harmless bird (unless the pilfering 

 of a little unprotected fruit be considered a crime), 

 and spends the remainder of the year in works of 

 great utility to man, by destroying millions of 

 insects, and by preventing the air from being in- 

 fected with the noxious effluvium arising from the 

 scourings of slaughter-houses. The cattle, too, 

 are in some degree benefited by the prying re- 

 searches of this sprightly bird. At a certain time 

 of the year, it is often seen on the backs of sheep 

 and oxen, freeing them from vermin, which must 

 be exceedingly troublesome to them. In Demerara, 

 where the magpie does not exist, this friendly 

 office is performed by a hawk. Widely different 



