LESSER WHITE-BACKED MAGPIE IN TASMANIA. 429 



Although the same nest is not occupied during successive 

 years, the same tree is resorted to season after season. Further- 

 more, a keen observer has given me as his opinion, that should 

 one of a pair nesting in a tree to which they had become attached 

 be killed between nesting seasons, the survivor brings along 

 another mate to the old nesting tree. In exposed positions it is 

 not often that such a frail nest, as it really is, holds together 

 from one season to another. All Magpies have not built their 

 homes of such prosaic materials as twigs and bark. Occasionally 

 some daring spirit is to be found who, ignoring " Mrs. Grundy," 

 has launched out on a plan of its own, much to the scandal of 

 its everything-by-rule-of-thumb neighbours. In well-tilled dis- 

 tricts wood becomes very scarce, only isolated giant gums being 

 left here and there. Magpies were in a quandary, not enough 

 suitable building material being easily available for housebuilding, 

 and the problem was thus solved : — The first reapers and binders 

 introduced into Tasmania were the " Walter A. Wood," binding 

 with wire. When the stacks were thrashed the wire on each 

 sheaf was cut and thrown in a heap. With this unpromising 

 material some of the Magpies, in the Longford district more 

 particularly, built their nests. String binders superseded wire, 

 and the Magpies that used wire had to go back to the traditions 

 of their forefathers and employ sticks. 



Three and sometimes four eggs are laid. In shape they are 

 oval ; the ground colour is light greenish, spotted and blotched 

 all over with amber. Dimensions are about lg- in. by 1 in. To 

 Tasmania belongs the privilege of being the first State to recog- 

 nize the Magpie as being of economic value, and to extend 

 protection to it as such. In 1879, under the Game Protection 

 Act, 42 Vic, No. 24, it was decreed that whosoever killed the 

 birds or destroyed their eggs would be liable to a penalty not 

 exceeding £1. In 1885, this Act was extended under 48 Vic, 

 No. 35, so that persons could not buy, sell, or offer for sale 

 birds of this species. Notwithstanding that this Act is still in 

 force, large numbers of young birds are taken annually from 

 their nests and sold as pets to dwellers in the towns. 



Some time since, while on a visit to a district in the northern 

 part of the island, I was struck by the total absence of the 

 Magpie. On asking if there was any known reason for it, I was 



