MAGPIE. Ill 



and, lastly, grain, when nothing else can be got. It is an 

 artful noisy bird, proclaiming aloud any apparent danger, 

 and thereby gives notice to its associates. Neither the 

 fox, or other wild animal, can appear without being ob- 

 served and haunted ; even the fowler is frequently spoiled 

 of his sport, for all other birds seem to know the alarming 

 chatter of the Magpie." 



Of Magpie-hawking, Sir John Sebright says, " Nothing 

 can be more animating than this sport : it is, in my opi- 

 nion, far superior to every other kind of hawking. The 

 object of the chase is fully a match for its pursuers, a re- 

 quisite absolutely necessary to give an interest to any sport 

 of this kind ; and it has the advantage of giving full em- 

 ployment to the company, which is not the case in Par- 

 tridge-hawking. A down or common, where low trees or 

 thorn bushes are dispersed at the distance of from thirty 

 to fifty yards apart, is the place best calculated for this 

 diversion. When a Magpie is seen at a distance, a Hawk 

 is immediately to be cast off. The Magpie will take re- 

 fuge in a bush the moment he sees the Falcon, and will 

 remain there until the falconer arrives, with the Hawk 

 waiting on in the air. The Magpie is to be driven from 

 his retreat ; and the Hawk, if at a good pitch, will stoop 

 at him as he passes to another bush, from whence he is to 

 be driven in the same way, another Hawk having been pre- 

 viously cast off, so that one or the other may always be so 

 situated as to attack him to advantage. The second Hawk 

 is necessary, for the Magpie shifts with great cunning and 

 dexterity to avoid the stoop ; and when hard pressed, 

 owing to the bushes being rather far apart, will pass under 

 the bellies of the horses, flutter along a cart-rut, and avail 

 himself of every little inequality of the ground in order to 

 escape. Four or five assistants, besides the falconer, who 



