WILD LIFE IN WINTER. 289 



the hunt. A low note of congratulation on finding 

 the quarry, and then they set to work. Where game 

 is concerned, the magpie is a crafty and mischievous 

 bird ; but, after all, other creatures beside game must 

 live, and in killing and eating mice, and other small 

 deer, he does a vast amount of good. He is certainly 

 not numerous in game-preserving districts ; you may 

 see a single pair in certain localities in the course of 

 a twelve-miles' walk. 



Jays are continually on the look-out for something 

 to eat, and they will lay up a store of acorns 

 and other things in secret places for hard times. 

 They know where to find it when they need it. 

 When the weather breaks they make fresh cover. 

 Other birds, and, in fact, many creatures, hoard and 

 hide surplus food. Some members of the Raptores 

 would be hard pressed at times if they did not do 

 this. Those who do not actually hide it have the 

 faculty of taking a great amount of food into their 

 crops — enough to tide them over hard times. It 

 startles one, when walking through covers that have 

 apparently no life in them, to see a dozen jays or 

 more flash out in front, flitting now here, now there, 

 on either side and around you. Public paths run 



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