MAGPIE 
145 
about the Jay's nest, with its root-lined cup ; one 
feels that any bird could make a comfortable nest- 
lining out of the usual wool and feathers, but there 
is something uncommonly clever and craftsmanlike 
about this smooth hemisphere of little shiny root- 
fibres. Six is the common number of the eggs, which 
have a strong look of one variety of the Blackbird's. 
They are rather larger than the biggest Blackbird's, 
finely and closely freckled all over with green, the 
freckles sometimes coalescing into a thick band or 
cap at the larger end. The green is of a browner 
shade than that on the Blackbird's egg. Sometimes 
the freckles are thin enough to show the grey-green 
ground-colour clearly beneath them, and often 
there is a long black hair-streak at the larger end. 
The nest is generally finished from the beginning 
to the middle of May. 
MAGPIE. 
(^Pka rustica,) 
Pyat, Mag. — The Magpie is one of the cleverest 
of a particularly clever family, but it has not 
learnt to make itself a less conspicuous mark for 
the gun by changing its skin or its spots, nor, 
which might be easier, to build a nest of a 
slightly less noticeable pattern. In many game- 
L 
