190 OMNI VOILE. 



are many stories of them, and also of the perils to which 

 boys expose themselves in plundering their nests. One of 

 the most extraordinary of the latter, is that of Murray, the 

 Dundee barber. The battlement of the old tower there is 

 about 150 feet above the pavement at the base. Murray 

 (when a boy) went through one of the holes in the parapet, 

 hung by one hand to a Scotch bonnet which another boy 

 held from within, and with his other hand drew the eggs and 

 young birds from the nests, and put them in the bonnet. 

 While thus employed, he kept warning his companion " If 

 you let go ,the bonnet, I'll give you none of the spoil." The 

 jack-daw is easily tamed, and long remembers those who 

 have paid attention to it indeed it is almost tame in its 

 natural state; but it is noisy and impudent, and not very 

 honest. 



OMNIVOROUS BIRDS NOT CROWS. 



There are two divisions of these, one with the tail long 

 and terminating in the form of a wedge, the other with it 

 squared over. There is but one species of the former the 

 magpie a resident. There are three species of the second 

 that reside in Britain, and a good many that visit occasion- 

 ally. All these birds are remarkable for the beauty of their 

 plumage, and the ease with which they can be tamed, and 

 taught to articulate. On these there is still no red or 

 yellow, or even brown, in the plumage, though there is russet 

 in the spots of the starling, and in the general plumage on 

 the body of the jay, and red in the bill and claws of the 

 chough. 



THE MAGPIE (Pica melanoleucd). 



Magpies are familiar birds, so well known to everybody, 

 that much description of them is not necessary. They asso- 

 ciate in pairs, and are more prolific than the crows, the 



