Cliap. 59.] 
THE MAGPIE. 
523 
a ring of red around the neck. It will duly salute an em- 
peror, and pronounce the words it has heard spoken ; it is 
rendered especially frolicsome under the influence of wine. 
Its head is as hard as its beak ; and this, when it is being 
taught to talk, is beaten with a rod of iron, for otherwise it 
is quite insensible to blows. "When it lights on the ground it 
falls upon its beak, and by resting upon it makes itself all 
the lighter for its feet, which are naturally weak. 
CHAP. 59. THE PIE WHICH FEEDS ON ACOENS. 
The magpie is much less famous for its talking qualities than 
the parrot, because it does not come from a distance, and yet 
it can speak with much more distinctness. These birds love 
to hear words spoken which they can utter ; and not only do 
they learn them, but are pleased at the task ; and as they con 
them over to themselves with the greatest care and attention, 
make no secret of the interest they feel. It is a well-known 
fact, that a magpie has died before now, when it has found itself 
mastered by a difficult word that it could not pronounce. 
Their memory, however, will fail them if they do not from 
time to time hear the same word repeated ; and while they are 
trying to recollect it, they will show the most extravagant joy, 
if they happen to hear it. Their appearance, although there 
is nothing remarkable in it, is by no means plain ; but they 
have quite suf&cient beauty in their singular ability to imitate 
the human speech. 
It is said, however, that it is only the kind^^ of pie which 
feeds upon acorns that can be taught to speak; and that 
among these, those which have five toes on each foot can be 
taught with the greatest facility ; but in their case even, only 
during the first two years of their life. The magpie has a 
broader tongue than is usual with most other birds ; which 
is the case also with all the other birds that can imitate the 
human voice ; although some individuals of almost every kind 
have the faculty of doing so. 
Agrippina, the wife of Claudius Caesar, had a thrush that 
could imitate human speech, a thing that was never known 
before. At the moment that I am > writing this, the young 
Cuvier says that this is the jay, the Corvus glandarius of Linnseus ; 
but that they are not more apt at speaking than the other kinds. 
^3 Cuvier remarks, that these can only be monstrosities. 
