COKVID^. 89 



the brash of the fox is, and is preseuted as a trophj' to some one of consi- 

 deration who is " in at the death."' 



In the severe winter of ibbO-81, Magpies kept sleek and fat, finding 

 plenty of starving small birds to devour. 



Observation. — The Californian Magpie, Pica nutfallii, only differs from 

 our English bird in having a yellow beak. Two specimens, at least, of 

 this variety have been detected in Britain — one in Stirlingshire, by 

 Mr. Harvie-Brown, of Dunipace House ; the other in this county near 

 Buckfastleigh, by Mr. Gervase F. Mathew, R.N. Those two excellent 

 observers are neither of them likely to have been mistaken. Mr. G. h\ 

 Mathew obtained a close view of the bird, and sent the following account 

 to the ' Zoologist ' at the time (Zool. IbGT, p. lOlG) : — " One day last July, 

 while walking with a friend in the neighbourhood of Buckfastleigh, we 

 saw in a hedge-row before us a Magpie busily employed searching for food. 

 On approaching the bird it did not exhibit those symptoms of alarm which 

 arc generally common to the species, but, on the contrary, continued 

 grubbing about in a very unconctrned manner. This appearing unusual, 

 I paid more attention to it than I should otherwise have done. We still 

 continued to advance, and it was not until we were about twenty yards from 

 the bird that it imagined it time to be off. It then walked deliberately 

 into the middle of the road before taking wing. While here it was in the 

 full glare of the sun, and I then observed to my astonishment that it 

 possessed a bill of hriyht lemon colour at the base, but of a darker hue 

 towards the top. I uttered an exclamation of surprise, and called my 

 companion's attention to it, and he agreed with me that he bad never seen 

 or heard of a Magpie's beak so coloured." The tameness of this bird 

 proves it to have been a stranger. However, Dr. Coues and other eminent 

 American ornithologists look upon the American Magpie with the yellow 

 beak as not specifically distinct. " I continue to regard the yellow-billed 

 race," writes Dr. Coues, " as simply illustrating the perpetuation of a 

 fortuitous condition." The Yellow-billed Magpie is the Common Magpie 

 of California, and when there we did not notice any difference in its 

 habits from those of the English Magpie. But it disappears as the 

 country becomes settled, keeping to the oak-covered districts. 



There are some well-known lines about the Magjjie : — 



" One for sorrow, 

 Two lor iiiirtli, 

 Three for a wedding, 

 Four for a birtli," 



and we have known superstitious people spit on the appearance of a single 

 Magpie to avert tlie evil omen ! 



A wliite variety was in the pnsseshion of Mr. Comyns (E. M., Trans. 

 ri}m. Inst. l«3uj. 



