68 Origin of speech in Magpies. Chapt. v. 



they are admittedly very learned about various things, 

 and are evidently not without rights of property in last 

 year's nests. They have also decisions executed by the 

 multitude in the cases of intruders or objectionable parties. 

 Indeed it is difficult to conceive how any creatures who 

 habitually live in collected numbers could possibly order 

 their conduct so as to live harmoniously, unless they had 

 the power of freely interchanging their ideas. 



Ovid is roguish enough to attribute the conversational 

 ability of the magpie to female origin, and the passage 

 is so prettily introduced by that well known naturalist 

 Charles Waterton, that I will be foolish enough to quote it, 

 even at the cost of weakening my argument by its absur- 

 dity; for the amount of covert fun in the "Studiumque 

 immane loquendi" is a thing not to be lost. Speaking of 

 the magpie then, Waterton writes "This beautiful fre- 

 "quenter of our woods and plains was notorious two 

 "thousand years ago, for pertness of character and volu- 

 bility of tongue. Ovid who knew more of birds than 

 "any man of his time, gives us an account of a family 

 "of young ladies in Macedonia who were all changed in- 

 "to magpies; and he expressly tells us that they retained 

 "their inordinate fondness for gabble long after they had 

 "lost the lovely form of woman. 



"Nunc quoque in altibus, facundia prisca reraansit 

 "Kauca garrulitas, studiumque immane loquendi:" 

 "And still their tongues went on, though changed to birds, 

 "In endless clack and vast desire of words." 



"If similar transformations were to take place now- 

 adays, I suspect that many a father here in England 



