234 
THE MAGPIE. 
apt to imagine it must have found its way here 
from the blazing latitudes of the south. 
I am fully aware that it has propensities of a 
sufficiently predatory nature to bring it into general 
disrepute with civilised man ; but let us remember 
thatj like the carrion crow, it only exercises them 
to any serious extent for about two months in the 
spring of the year. At that season, it certainly 
commences operations with surprising assiduity. 
Cacus himself, that ancient thief, when he was 
about to steal the cows of Hercules, never ex- 
hibited greater cunning than that which this bird 
puts in practice after it has discovered a hen's nest 
in the yard, or a place of sitting game in the field. 
Both the magpie and the carrion crow transfix 
the eggs with their beaks, and then convey them 
through the air. 
After the season of incubation is over, the mag- 
pie becomes a harmless bird (unless the pilfering 
of a little unprotected fruit be considered a crime), 
and spends the remainder of the year in works of 
great utility to man, by destroying millions of 
insects, and by preventing the air from being in- 
fected with the noxious effluvium arising from the 
scourings of slaughter-houses. The cattle, too, 
are in some degree benefited by the prying re- 
searches of this sprightly bird. At a certain time 
of the year, it is often seen on the backs of sheep 
and oxen, freeing them from vermin, which must 
be exceedingly troublesome to them. In Demerara, 
where the magpie does not exist, this friendly 
office is performed by a hawk. Widely different 
