MAGPIE 
303 
The question is usually answered at once in the 
affirmative hy the more enthusiastic school of Aus- 
tralia-for-the-Australians naturalists, who will not 
run the risk of having their judgment shaken by first 
waiting till they can hear the song-birds of other 
countries. The important thing to decide first is, 
of course, what does one mean by a song-bird ? 
For that, seeing that even in the State schools we 
have not entirely rejected the English language as 
effete, we must inquire what do people in England 
mean when they speak of a song-bird ? The answer 
is, birds with notes such as the Thrush's, Skylark's, 
and others familiar in the English country-side. We 
have in Australia a few birds which in this sense 
are song-birds, but emphatically the Magpie is not 
one of them. It is, of course, quite open to us in 
Australia to provide a new and local meaning for 
song-bird," and extend it to include any bird 
whose note gives us pleasure. Then it will be time 
enough to include the Magpie ; and if you go further 
and let the term cover any Australian bird which 
makes a noise (as I have no doubt the enthusiasts 
will desire), I shall be the first to welcome the Aus- 
tralian Raven as the Caruso of the South. 
But song or not song, the Magpie's note is some- 
thing dearer to the Australian-born than almost 
any other bird-music he might hear. I remember 
one June morning at Inverleigh — a fine winter's 
morning, but white mists filled the valley of the 
river so that only here and there could you see the tops 
