THE MAGPIE 
used to ride into a town about a mile distant, on a 
butcher’s cart, and return home shortly on a baker’s. 
Her end, like that of so many bird pets, was a sad 
one. She was rummaging in a wood stack, when a 
heavy log fell on her beautiful black and white body 
and killed her. 
Another tame Magpie was noticed one day to 
be hopping about in a state of great delight. She 
was carrying stones in her beak and dropping them 
into a deep wooden socket which had been made to 
hold a clothes post. 
Curious to know the meaning of this trick, the 
bird’s owner went to look more closely, and found 
that an unfortunate toad had fallen into the socket. 
Every time the wicked Magpie dropped a stone 
the poor toad hopped with pain, at which the un- 
feeling bird gave a loud ^^currack” of delight. 
The young Magpies when they leave the nest 
still remain with the parent bird, and they will return, 
year after year, to the same clump of trees in which 
they first saw the light. 
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