



MAGPIE. 1 1 5 



present day the great majority of the inhabitants of that 

 part of the country are of English extraction ; and it is not 

 improbable that their forefathers brought the Magpie with 

 them from England, perhaps as a pet, to put them in mind 

 of their native land ; for it is scarcely possible that any one 

 would voluntarily introduce so mischievous an animal. At 

 all events, St. Patricias curse, which is said to rest so 

 heavily on the whole tribe of serpents, does not appear to 

 have extended to Frogs and Magpies, for I know no part 

 of the world where both breeds thrive better or faster than 

 in Ireland. 



Smith, in his " History of Cork," says, the Magpie was 

 not known in Ireland seventy years before the time at 

 which he wrote, about 1746. Tradition says, also, that 

 they were driven over to Ireland from England during a 

 storm. 



From Pembrokeshire to Wexford would not be a diffi- 

 cult flight. 



The Magpie is common in Scotland ; but according to 

 Mr. Macgillivray it is not found in the outer Hebrides, in 

 Orkney, or in Shetland. 



In France the Magpie is one of the few birds, if not the 

 only one, which no one seems to destroy, and it is accord- 

 ingly very common ; while all other birds, at least, as it 

 appeared to me when in that country, are remarkably 

 scarce. In Sweden, neither the Magpie, its nest, nor its 

 eggs, are ever touched; while in the adjoining country, 

 Mr. Hewitson, of Newcastle, says,* " The Magpie is one of 

 the most abundant, as well as the most interesting of the 

 Norwegian birds ; noted for its sly cunning habits here, its 

 altered demeanour there is the more remarkable. It is 

 upon the most familiar terms with the inhabitants, picking 



* Magazine of Zoology and Botany, vol. ii. p. 311. 



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