THE MAGPIE 
87 
Sentence of death had been passed on a magpie convicted of 
poaching, and a small hut was built, into which a man entered 
and waited for the bird to appear, but no magpie would come 
near. On the third day two men went into the hut and one 
came out, but still no magpie came. On the third day three 
men went in and two came out — it was of no avail. The next 
day four men went in and three came out, and so did the magpie, 
and fell a victim, plainly showing us the extent of a magpie’s 
powers of counting. 
The bird is far more handsome than is generally supposed, 
its dark plumage, especially the tail-feathers, shining with a 
metallic sheen in the sun, and when seen in the light. The full 
length of the magpie is eighteen inches. There are a number of 
hairs round the bird’s beak, and these, when seen close, are very 
striking. 
The magpie is not particularly shy round here. There are, 
for instance, two nests at the very outskirts of Bristol, quite close 
to houses and a barracks, where thousands of people are passing 
almost daily, yet the very fact of the remains of three nests in 
the one case, and of two in the other, being visible in contiguous 
trees, proves that they are little molested, and have made it 
their regular home for many years. 
The magpie frequently heads the list of victims in the unscru- 
pulous game-keeper’s vermin rail, and many are killed by the 
following simple method, %vhich I hope few will be induced to 
adopt. An open space in or near a wood is chosen, in the middle 
of which a cat is picketed under a solitary bush. Her cries 
attract all the jays and magpies in the district, who, glad to pay 
off old scores, fly in numbers to the bush, and so thick do the}' 
sometimes collect, that the hidden “ gunner ” has been enabled 
to bag as many as seven at one discharge. 
Magpies are extremely local, and in many places a magpie’s 
nest is quite a rarity. A plan, sometimes adopted, of introducing 
these birds into a district is to obtain the eggs from the nearest 
locality where they are found, and put them into a missel-thrush’s 
nest. Such is the stupidity of birds, that they will feed and 
bring up the offspring of other birds, perhaps destructive to 
themselves or their young, and I have heard of rooks’ eggs being 
hatched by the missel-thrush — she must have thought the young 
ones had large appetites, especially if she had reared her own 
young ones the year before. 
I would not recommend magpies for keeping in captivity, 
unless they are allow'ed to go unmolested in the house and 
garden, and even then they frequently fall a victim, perhaps to 
cats, perhaps to a wash-tub or a cistern. 
Fylton Rectory, near Bristol. 
A. C. Mackie. 
