100 THE COMMON MAGPIE. 



"were obliged to scrape the snow away to obtain their miserable pittance; 

 and, to increase their misfortune, the poor animals were attacked by the 

 Magpies, who, attracted by the scent of their sore backs, alighted on them, 

 and, in defiance of their wincing and kicking, picked many places quite raw; 

 the difficulty of procuring food rendering those birds so bold as to alight on 

 our men's arms, and eat meat out of their hands." To Clarke and Lewis, 

 however, is due the first introduction of this bird into the Fauna of the 

 United States. These intrepid travellers first observed the Magpie near the 

 great bend of the Missouri, although it was known to have been obtained at 

 the fur-trading factories of the Hudson's Bay Company. 



There is a difference of opinion as to the identity of the Magpie of 

 America and that of Europe. Thomas Nttttall, who has seen those of 

 both countries, as well as their nests, and observed their habits, assures me, 

 that he looks upon them as clearly of the same species. Captain Sabine 

 thought differently, and Charles Bonaparte, after remarking in his 

 "Observations on the Nomenclature of Wilson," that "it is not a little 

 singular that this species, which is so common in every part of Europe, 

 should be confined in its range on this continent to the western and northern 

 regions," thus plainly indicating his belief of their identity, names it, in a 

 list of European and North American Birds, published in London in April 

 1838, "Pica Hudsonica. Nob." the European bird being at the same time 

 ticketed "Pica melanoZeuca." Mr. Swainson, in the Fauna Boreali- 

 Americana, remarks on comparing them: — "We cannot perceive the slightest 

 difference whereon to build even the character of a variety, much less a 

 species;" and this truly is my own opinion. 



The following notice regarding our bird was given me by my friend 

 Thomas Nuttall: — "On the 15th of July, arriving at the borders of the 

 Shoshonee, or Snake river, we first met with the Common Magpie on our 

 route, mostly accompanied by the Raven, but there were no Crows. The 

 young birds were so familiar and greedy, approaching the encampment in 

 quest of food, as to be easily taken by the Indian boys, when they soon 

 become reconciled to savage domesticity. The old birds were sufficiently 

 shy, but the young were observed hopping and croaking around us, and 

 tugging at any offal of flesh meat thrown out, like so many Vultures. 

 Differing so far from the proscribed and persecuted Magpies of Europe, 

 these, at least the young, seemed evidently to court the advantages of society 

 in supplying them with food, and betrayed scarcely any alarm on our 

 approach. If chased off for an instant, they returned the next, and their 

 monotonous and gluttonous croak was heard around us at all hours of the 

 day. The dryness of the season, and the scarcity of insects and small birds, 

 urged them no doubt to this unusual familiarity with their doubtful friend 



