July, 1902. 
THE CONDOR 
79 
whoa,” and continuing with such a 
variation of “whoas,” “get-ups” and 
clucks that the poor horse would not 
know what to do. 
One of the most amusing uses to 
which the magpie puts his powers is to 
call the chickens — “chick-chick-chick- 
chick” and when they have run eager 
and expectant in the direction from 
which the sounds come, which is nat- 
urally the cage, to sieze one by the 
comb or the back of the neck and pull 
out a few feathers or spill a little blood. 
An old game hen used to respond to his 
calls, and as soon as she received a tweak 
on tlie head would ruffle up and begin 
a regular fight through the wire net 
ting. At this time Jolin Henry exhibit- 
ed himself at his best. While flying at 
the hen he would keep saying “chick- 
chick-chick, come on, come on, Harry, 
Harry — get up — hello,” in fact, he 
would go through almost his entire 
vocabulary while fighting and pulling 
out feathers. 
H e will sit by the hour on bright 
warm days and whistle and jabber, 
bringing in an intelligible word once in 
a while, but as a rule giving utterance 
to sounds, not native magpie language, 
yet still not capable of being translated 
into English. These sounds are similar 
to those uttered by very young children 
during their play in imitation of their 
elders. At times the bird’s words are 
so opportunely chosen as to almost lead 
to a belief that they are spoken intelli- 
gently. I feel sure that this is the case 
when he calls “Harry” under certain 
conditions, such as when frightened or 
hungry, as my name pronounced in 
certain peculiar tones conveys these 
meanings. 
Both of my magpies talk and whistle, 
but it is John Henry who is most pro- 
ficient; in fact the talking and whistling 
qualities in the female are nut developed 
to any such extent as in the male, but 
my experience has been too limited to 
permit me to judge whether this 
peculiarity is due to the sexes or not. 1 
understand, however, that male parrots 
talk better than females. 
As to the question of “splitting the 
tongue” as commonly expressed, which 
consists merely in cutting the membrane 
beneath the tongue to allow that mem- 
ber more freedom in movement, I am 
of the opinion that this operation would 
not be productive of any material im- 
provement in articulation. My birds 
can speak almost as clearly when hold 
ing a stick or food or any kind of solid 
in the bill as when it is empty, 
the movement producing the sound 
coming from the throat. 
Mischievous by nature, they are al- 
ways looking around for bright objects 
to play with. They will spend half a 
day with a tin spoon, a piece of glass or 
a key. All play-things not too large 
are buried in sand or grass or covered 
over with sticks and leaves or poked 
into nooks and crevices in the cage. 
I have never experienced any difficulty 
in providing suitable food. They take 
kindly to raw meat, fresh fruit and 
berries, boiled eggs, nuts and bread. 
They are also very fond of cheese, and 
any kind of insects which have moder- 
ately hard shells and are not soft or 
slimy to the touch. Considering the 
comparative lack of attention necessary 
for their proper care, and the highly in- 
teresting results obtained for the time 
and labor spent, a pair of pet magpies 
is a very desirable acquisition to the 
list of household pets. 
Some Echoes from the Sierras. 
BV C. B.\RLOVV. 
T HIi Lake Tahoe stage road was region still holds charms for the ornith- 
traversed by a goodly number of ologist. W. W. Price has his usual 
Cooper Club members during June summer school at Glen Alpine, while 
1902, indicating that this interesting John M. Willard of Oakland is looking 
