BIRD LEGEND AND LIFE 



of "egg-lift," and her fondness for a meat diet has made her 

 a murderess of even large animals — ^her unfailing grace and 

 beauty are bound to challenge our admiration, and to add 

 life and charm to the landscape. We admire her, too, as an 

 example of superior motherhood. Zealously she plies her 

 yotmg with food while in the nest, and diligently she devotes 

 herself to their education during their first summer. 



When reared from the nest, the magpie makes a most 

 interesting pet who delights in following and entertaining 

 her owner, but mature captives have little value. There is 

 scarcely a community within her range of residence that does 

 not boast one of these pitiful prisoners, but how different 

 she is from those in their natural environment. "AU her 

 merry quips are o'er." Gone is her gaiety. Gone, too, is 

 the beautiful iridescent wash from her plumage. The once 

 snowy patches are sullied and the once beautiful tail, her 

 erstwhile pride, is limp, dulled and bedraggled, a thing of 

 rags and tatters. Yet it expresses her condition as eloquent- 

 ly as it did in the jaimty care-free days in the wood. And 

 all this has been brought upon her by her accomplishments! 



As man in the old days proclaimed her the scandal of 

 the grove, she in her present estate proclaims him — ^who has 

 so misunderstood her and so degraded her — ^the real deserver 

 of the title. 



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