MAGPIE. 



PICA CAUDATA, Fleming. 



Pica caudata^ Fleming, Hist. Brit. Animals, p. 87 (1828) ; 



Hewitson, i. p. 234. 

 Corvus pica, Linn. S. N. i. p. 157 (1766) ; Naum. ii. p. 101. 

 Corvus rusticusj Scop. Ann. I. Hist. Nat. p. 38. 

 Pica melanoleuca, Macg. i. p. 562. 

 Pica rustica, Yarr. ed. 4, ii. p. 312; Dresser, iv. p. 509. 



Pie, Pie ordinaire, Frencli ; Elster, German ; Picaza, 

 Urraca, Marica, Pega, Spanish. 



This bird is too well known, and has been too often 

 treated of by friends and foes, to need any detailed 

 remarks from me. Gamekeepers, with good reason, 

 wage war to the death against " Mag," and in some 

 parts of England the bird has become scarce, whilst in 

 unpreserved districts it is still abundant, and in many 

 parts of Ireland is decidedly the typical bird of the 

 country. Apart from its misdeeds as a poacher, the 

 Magpie, though useful in ridding cattle of the grubs 

 generally known as "bots," frequently in so doing 

 causes hideous sores in the backs of the afflicted beasts ; 

 and, averse as I am to the extermination of any bird, 

 especially to that of such a very beautiful and amusing 

 species as the present, I must confess that, on the 

 whole, T look upon the Magpie as a decided " detri- 

 mental," whose increase should be carefully kept within 

 reasonable limits. 



