Henry’s 
Magpie. 
(24) THE BIRD WORLD. 
Mag seemed as well content to wait, or, 
rather, more so than he was. The 
children were in hopes that someone 
might come by who would help them in 
their distress. And they had not waited 
a minute before they could see two child¬ 
ren coming in sight, at the very farthest 
point where the lane was visible from 
the stile. 
These children were a very ragged 
boy, without shoes, stockings, or hat, 
about nine or ten years of age, and a 
little girl, worse clothed, if possible, 
than himself, for her petticoat was all in 
fringes, showing her little legs above the 
ankle; they both looked miserably thin. 
Mag waited saucily till these had come 
nearly opposite the stile, and then only 
stepped aside; while Henry, calling to 
the boy, told him his trouble, pointing 
out the bird to him, and asking his help. 
The boy looked towards the bird, and 
then, turning cheerfully to Henry, he 
said, “Never fear, master, but Til catch 
her for you,” and, dropping the hand of 
the little girl, he pulled off his ragged 
jacket, and crept towards Maggy. 
Cunning as the creature was, she did not 
understand that she had a deeper hand 
to deal with than that of her young 
master. She, therefore, let the boy come 
as near to her as she had let Henry do 
many times during the chase, and in this 
way she gave him the opportunity he was 
seeking of throwing his jacket over her, 
and seizing her as she lay under it. 
“ He has her! ” cried Emily and 
Henry at once, and the ragged little girl 
set up quite a shriek of joy. 
“ Yes, I has her,” added the boy ; “ but 
she pulls desperate hard, and would bite 
me if she could through the cloth. Sup¬ 
pose I wraps her in it, and carries her 
home for you, for we must not let her 
loose again. Hark! how she skirls, 
master and miss ! ” 
Henry and Emily approved of this 
scheme; the boy kept Maggy in the folds 
of the old jacket, and Emily helped the 
little girl to get over the stile, and the 
four children walked quickly towards the 
house. When they had crossed the two 
fields Emily ran forward to fetch the 
cage, and the bov managed to get Mag 
into it without getting his fingers bit. 
The Fat Chancellor. 
It is a pity that the eggs of the Pee¬ 
wit are getting to be more and mure 
acknowledged as a delicacy, as this 
means the gradual extirpation of a pretty 
bird—the cheerful companion of many 
of our loneliest walks—and all to give 
the gourmand a passing extra mouthful. 
Though they have long been known as 
a luxury, it was Prince Bismarck who 
gave an impetus to their table use. 
Having expressed a preference for them, 
his admirers started sending the states¬ 
man such quantities on his birthday that 
he is credited with the remark—“ The 
Germans seem determined to have a fat 
Chancellor.” The rage grew until the 
country was scoured for the eggs. In 
poor districts it paid the peasant boy 
better to search for eggs at 10 pfennigs 
(r^d.) each, than to work, so that the 
birds became positively rare on the Bran¬ 
denburg plains and the more broken 
lands of Mecklenburg, where previously 
they were very plentiful. 
Pho.'o by\ 
A Nestling Jay, 
[E. Ash. 
