114 BIRDS OF DUMFRIESSHIRE 
Kirkmahoe and Tinwald. It would therefore appear that 
the bird has become once more estabhshed m the south of 
the county, and if unmolested it wiU undoubtedly extend its 
range. 
THE MAGPIE. Pica rustica (Scopoli). 
Local names— PiET ; Pie; Pegpie. 
" With all the thick short rowing of her wings. 
The Magpie makes slow way. But her glib tongue 
Goes chattering fast enough, in yonder fir, 
The summer solstice cannot keep her mute. 
Ominous pie ! The peasant sees ^^ar 
With mad extravagant bill l^^^^^fg^t^^^^J^' 
And fears for death within ; the schoolboy, forth 
On morning errand, counts with eager awe 
The sidelong pies high hopping o er his road ^ 
And learns the fortunes of^the^com^^ 5_ Day.- 
A very local resident in the littoral parishes ; sporadically, in smaU flock., 
pairs or individuals elsewhere. 
At the beginning of the nineteenth century Magpies were 
numerous throughout the county, and were often seen in 
parties of fifteen to twenty. Sir Wilham Jardine wrote 
(circa 1839) : " Like its congeners, it would even seem to 
delight in the vicinity of population, perhaps in some 
degree attracted by the food which is there presented to 
it,'and the neighbourhood of viUages, or the trees which 
generally surround the farm-steadmg, are almost sure to 
be tenanted by a pair at least of these active birds^ . _ . 
There was an ancient law or regulation in Scotland, whereby 
tenants were obhged to plant and rear a -rtam ' 
of ash trees around the farm-steadmg, and accordingly 
most of those sites are surrounded by ^-J^^ 
trees of this species on which the Pies love to build and the 
prevalence of this tree in such situations may be the cause 
without anyparticular partiaUtyin the burds existmg for it. 
• Nat. Lib., 1839, Vol. XI., p. 247. 
