338 CORVIDiE. 



frequented the demesne at Malone House, Dear Belfast, for two or 

 three years ; and a friend once saw three pure white ones, which 

 were brought from the neighbourhood to town for sale ; — they 

 had probably been reared in the same nest. In January, 1846, a 

 white specimen of the magpie was killed in the county of Down, 

 by John E. Garner, Esq., of Garnerville, at the same shot with 

 another in ordinary plumage. It was noted by me at the time, — 

 " as almost wholly white, but a few black feathers appear indis- 

 criminately over the plumage except in the tail, which, save a 

 small patch of black towards the point of one feather, is alto- 

 gether white. The tarsi and toes are pied flesh-colour and black ; 

 the bill wholly black." Tins bird and another, shot in the neigh- 

 bourhood in February, 1848, were presented to the Belfast Mu- 

 seum. The wings of the latter were almost wholly white, and all 

 the parts of the plumage usually black of different shades, ex- 

 hibited more white than black, the tail having least of this colour. 

 On one feather of its longest pair, a little white appeared for 

 about an inch along the edge from the tip upwards ; the next pair in 

 length had a good deal of pure white towards the tips; those ex- 

 terior to them retained their ordinary hue. The tarsi and toes 

 also were partially white, as usual in albino varieties of birds ; 

 the base (" plante ") of the toes were almost wholly white, as 

 well as the hinder portion of the tarsi, for about half an inch up- 

 wards from the base of the hind toes. 



In the month of May, I met with the magpie about Smyrna : 

 it is common over the greater part of the European continent. 



Sir. Wm. Jardine (in his work on British Birds) admirably 

 points out the favourite haunts of the magpie ; and Mr. Macgil- 

 livray gives a very characteristic description of its manners in a 

 wild state. The latter observes, that " in the Outer Hebrides, 

 the Shetland and Orkney islands, it is never seen/' vol. i. p. 565. 

 Dr. J. D. Marshall has remarked, that from the total want of 

 wood in the island of Bathlin, off the Giant's Causeway, the magpie 

 is very scarce. 



