314 



MAGPIE. 



root ; or sometimes one of the higher bushes is fixed upon for the 

 purpose." 1 



From the very inaccurate descriptions given in books of the structure 

 of the Mag-pie's nest, it would be impossible for a person to identify it, 

 though it be so very conspicuous and distinct. Bonnet tells us that 

 the birds " fortify all the exterior of the edifice with bushes and 

 mortar, composed of moist earth, similar to that employed by the 

 swallow." 2 " The body of the nest," says Goldsmith, " is composed 

 of hawthorn branches, the thorns sticking outward, but well united to- 

 gether by their mutual insertions. Within it is lined with fibrous roots, 

 wool, and long grass, and then nicely plastered all round with mud and 

 clay." a " The interior of the nest," says Mr. Mudie, " is made of soft 

 grass and wool, hair or feathers." 4 But two fine specimens now before 

 me have no plastering on the outside, but upon the foundation, layers 

 of sticks, pieces of turf and clay, are piled up, intermixed with sticks, 

 chiefly thorns ; and on the top of the mound thus formed, a circular 

 hollow cup of well-wrought clay is built of considerable thickness, and 

 about a foot deep. This is lined with a mass of pliable roots, both of 

 trees and herbs, very neatly interwoven into a compact basket-work. 

 There is not a particle of grass, wool, hair, or feathers, either in these 

 nests nor in any others which I have examined ; but it is possible 

 that this, though certainly not usual, may occur. 



The dome, which, from some of the preceding statements, we might 

 infer to be plastered on the outside with clay, is a loose, irregular 

 fabric of blackthorn twigs, laid crossways in all directions, and raised 

 pretty high above the body of the nest. This dome is probably con- 

 structed wholly for defence against enemies ; at least I have never 

 seen it close enough to afford much shelter from rain, to which it is 

 usually every where pervious. 



It lays six or seven eggs early in the spring, of a yellowish white, 

 spotted with brown and cinereous : the places of nidification, Mon- 

 tagu says, are various ; sometimes on the top of a high tree, in a thick 

 bush or hedge, and frequently at a small distance from the ground, from 

 which circumstance it has been supposed that there are two species, 

 which have sometimes been denominated the Tree-Mag and Hedge- 

 Mag, distinguished, according to Graves, by greater length of the 

 body and tail. 



In winter these birds will assemble in great numbers to roost in some 



1 Animated Nature, iii. 170. 2 Contempl. de la Mature, pt. xii., Note 6. 

 3 Animated Nature, iii. 171. 4 Brit. Nat. ii. 219. 



