Magpies ; or, the English Birds of Paradise. 87 



was the business they were about. It may be that the 

 old pairs are constant to one another, for certainly the 

 same nest is used year after year, and most likely by the 

 same birds. If so, the clamorous congregation may have 

 for object only the mating and marriage of the young 

 ones; and the chattering, oft in tone of angry objurga- 

 tion, may be disputes between their parents as to fitness 

 and settlement. 



It is said that in some parts of England the Magpie 

 has become quite a rara avis, having been persecuted 

 almost to extermination by both farmer and gamekeeper, 

 A pity this, for it is one of our most beautiful and 

 interesting birds, its presence a cheer and ornament to 

 field and tree. A neighbourhood, or homestead, would 

 not seem English without it. And if Magpies do, now 

 and then, pilfer from the partridge's or pheasant's nest, 

 and carry off chick or duckling, they make amends for 

 such damage by destroying an infinite number of 

 noxious creatures, far more harmful than themselves. 



It appears to me that this beautiful bird is ornitho- 

 logically the northern representative of the famed Birds 

 of Paradise of the tropics, of a nearly allied family, if not, 

 indeed, the same. Its voice, habits, close-set, velvet-like 

 plumage, with changing metallic tints, and, above all, its 

 ample development of tail, point to it as being a so-called 

 Paradise bird — that special to the more temperate climes. 

 Last year, while taking the young out of a Magpie's nest 

 for purposes of examination, I was impressed with this 

 fact in observing the behaviour of one of the parent 

 birds. Flying excitedly from tree to tree, now and then 

 clinging to a branch in upright attitude, with body elon- 

 gated, wings outspread in a tremulous motion, and the 

 long trowel-shaped tail, with side feathers graduated in 



