870 MAGPIE. 



length is about eighteen inches, and its breadth 

 twenty-four, the wings being short in proportion 

 to the bird. The Magpie seems to be confined to 

 the temperate and northern regions both of the 

 old and new Continent. In its way of life it re- 

 sembles the Crow, feeding both on anima} and 

 vegetable substances: it builds its nest, as every 

 one knows, with great art and sagacity; defend- 

 ing it on all sides with sharp thorns, leaving only 

 a hole for entrance, and lays six or seven pale- 

 green eggs spotted with brown. The beauty of 

 the Magpie, which, on a distant view, appears to 

 cloathed merely in black and white, is greatly 

 increased by the rich iridescent reflexions Qf th? 

 feathers, particularly those of the tail, which 

 hibit a changeable green and purple lustre, ac- 

 cording to the disposition of the light. Like the 

 Jay, this bird is often doomed to a state of vulgar 

 captivity, in which its appearance partakes of the 

 cast of those who confine it; the beautiful gloss of 

 its colours being lost, and nothing remaining but 

 a dirty variegation of black and white. The 

 varieties of the M^^gpie are whit^^^ pi^d, arid buff- 

 colour. 



