236 
THE MAGPIE. 
ever ; but if you remove the young to a place to 
which the parent bird can have access, she will 
regularly bring them a supply of food. 
When there is an addle egg, it is allowed to 
remain in the nest during the entire process of 
rearing the young. Birds which make their nests 
in walls or in the holes of trees (the starling to 
wit), bring out the addle egg, which has remained 
from the last year s incubation, and drop it on the 
ground, when they begin to renew the nest. 
The magpie builds its nest in any tree, no matter 
of what kind ; and it is very partial even to the 
lowly thorn bush in the hedgerow. The apple tree 
in the garden ; the lonely ash in the meadow ; the 
alder in the swamp; and the oak in the heart of 
the forest, far from the abode of man : all have 
their attractions for the magpie; and in these it 
will form its nest, which is invariably composed 
of sticks, and clay or earth, and lined with fibrous 
roots. When I am informed that magpies line 
their nest with wool, I suspect that there is either 
an error in the statement, or that the modern 
magpie has conformed to the times, and has brought 
to her nest a kind of furniture wholly unknown to 
her ancestors. 
The magpie lays from three to nine eggs ; but 
seven seems to be the average number, varying 
in size, and shape, and colour, as much as those 
of the carrion crow. 
The female magpie has so near a resemblance 
to the male, that you can scarcely distinguish the 
one from the other. This is the case with all 
