210 



M. SYLVATICUS ON TAME BIRDS. 



difficulty in pursuing it. I am, however, so happy as to possess a 

 garden, about 140 feet in length by 40 in breadth ; in which, besides 

 as many flowers as it will contain, I usually keep one or more tame 

 birds, in the full enjoyment of undipped wings, and at free liberty to 

 leave my demesne if they feel so disposed ; but several have thought 

 proper not to do so for three or four years ; and I believe that, when 

 they at last disappeared, they were either stolen or devoured by cats. 

 The bird with which I have had the most intimate companionship is 

 the magpie, and I will now proceed to tell yon a little of what I have 

 observed in him. I shall not attempt to give you the characters of 

 individual magpies, which I believe differ as widely as those of indivi- 

 duals of the human species ; their loquacity and propensity to theft are 

 well known ; but I do not find many who are aware of the high notions 

 which a magpie possesses of his own rights in whatever he deems his 

 property. My magpie considers my garden as his estate; he walks 

 jealously behind any stranger who goes into it ; and if any attempt be 

 made to touch a plant, a stick, or a stone, he flies at the offender with 

 every demonstration of rage and fury. He perambulates his bounda- 

 ries, i. e. the top of the surrounding wall, and never by any chance goes 

 beyond them. Every evening he voluntarily enters a cage appro- 

 priated to him, shuts the door after him, and goes to roost on the 

 perch. On one occasion, having some greenhouse plants turned out 

 in the borders, I wished to send them, for the winter, to a friend in the 

 country : a cart was accordingly brought to the gate, and a man com- 

 menced removing the plants from my garden ; but Mag, seeing his 

 estate thus plundered, made a vigorous attack upon the spoiler; he 

 would jump on each pot as the man took it up for removal, and 

 peck his hand until the blood sprung from it ; and he followed him, 

 constantly pecking his heels, to the garden gate, but no further; 

 for he then would run back to me, chattering loudly, and looking up 

 to me for approbation. He once entered the open window of a room 

 where breakfast was set out, before the family came down stairs ; he 

 drank largely out of the milk jug, tasted the butter, and concluded by 

 throwing down upon the floor the toast, spoons, knives, and every thing 

 that he could move. Having done this, he sat on the back of a chair 

 apparently quite delighted at his exploit. If any one looked particu- 

 larly at a flower, he would nip it off, and bury it for security. I 

 had, for some time, a tame jackdaw to keep him company. This bird 

 is fond of getting into dark holes and corners, which Mag studiously 



