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Inquisitive Magpies 



I was collecting specimens of natural 

 history in the northern part of the state 

 of Washington, a few miles from the 

 Canadian border. At the time the inci- 

 dent which I am about to relate occurred 

 I was stopping at a ranch at the southern, 

 end of Okonogan lake. 



The owner of the building was cramped 

 for room, so, as it was during the heat of 

 the summer, I spent the nights rolled up 

 in my blankets under a haystack. One 

 morning, as the sun was rising, I was 

 awakened by shadows crossing my face, 

 and opening my eyes saw a flock, possibly 

 a family, of Magpies perched on the stack 

 and ends of poles that had been thrown 

 over it to keep the hay from blowing 

 away. I watched them as they peered 

 inquisitively at me from their perches, 

 until finally one flew to the ground, then 

 another and another, until at last several 

 were gathered about me, but a few feet 

 away. I lay on my side, with my arms 

 under the blankets, and watched their 

 actions. At last one jumped on the 

 blankets at my feet. I could feel him 

 hopping slowly upward. I did not move 

 for fear of frightening him. Finally he 

 reached my shoulder, and, after perching 

 there a few seconds, flew to my cheek. 

 I closed my eyes slowly, fearing he might 

 peck them. After testing my cheek lightly 

 with his bill, he began to get in some 

 uncomfortably heavy blows, so I thought 

 it time to stop him. Without opening 

 my eyes, or moving, I said in a low tone. 

 "Here! Here! That will do ! " He hesi- 

 tated, as if to make sure his ears had not 

 deceived him, and then flew to the stack. 

 Another took his place, after working up 

 in the same manner ; he was quietly asked 

 to move on. When the next one hopped 

 on the blankets, I slowly raised my hand 

 under them, making a tempting elevation, 

 of which he was not slow to take advan- 

 tage. He lighted squarely in the palm of 



my hand, which I closed at once, and 

 held him prisoner. With the other hand 

 I caught him by the legs from the out- 

 side, whereupon he flopped his wings, 

 cried out with anger, and pecked at my 

 wrist savagely. The remainder of the 

 flock, which, in the meantime, had flown 

 to the haystack, scolded and jabbered 

 away at a great rate. 



Evidently they had taken me for a 

 corpse, but I think it was the liveliest 

 ouQ they ever saw. — J. Alden Loring, 

 Oixjego, N. Y. 



Songs of Birds 



The songs of birds have attracted a 

 good deal of attention in recent years, 

 and observation seems to confirm the 

 theory that each generation of birds 

 learns the song characteristics of its 

 species by association with its own kind. 



This fact was brought quite clearly to 

 my mind several years ago, when in a 

 western town I was taken to a neighbor's 

 to see his birds. Four cages swung in 

 the shelter of a commodious porch. One 

 contained a Red-winged Blackbird, that 

 had been taken from its nest when very 

 young, and brought up by hand. His 

 associates were a Canary, a Blue Jay 

 and an Oriole. The Canary had been 

 purchased at a bird store, and had there 

 learned its song. The Blue Jay and 

 Oriole had been taken from neighboring 

 nests, and had, no doubt, picked up the 

 characteristic notes of their species from 

 the many other members of their kind 

 that inhabited the vicinity, but it was 

 many miles to the nearest swamp or low 

 land where one might find a Red-winged 

 Blackbird. This Red-wing had learned 

 perfectly the notes of his caged com- 

 panions, and had picked up some notes 

 of other birds in the neighborhood, but 

 not one note of the Red-winged Black- 

 bird did he know. — Frank E. Horack, 

 lozva City, la. 



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