S.A. NAT., VOL. XV. 
Nov. 30th, 1933. 
29 
- A. MAGPIE—AND A BROKEN LEG. 
By A. F. James from observations b}' Mrs. A. F . James. 
'Phis is a true account of a wild hen magpie’s struggle for 
life against the handicap of a broken leg. 
Before commencing, however, it is necessary for me to say 
that our home at Brighton, South Australia, is situated in a 
thinly-populated part, and that there are numerous pine and gum 
trees very close to it, which are in great favour with birds of most 
of the usual breeds. When going there to live about two years 
ago we took a laughing jack with us—a tame bird that had 
strayed to our previous home half dead and apparently mauled 
by cats and dogs, and which my wife had nursed back to health. 
Not very long after moving in, a pair of magpies with a 
young one attacked the jack, who has the run of the yard. The 
commotion brought us out, and we were just in time to see the 
jack succeed in beating off the magpies. After this the, magpies 
would come into the yard and bathe in the jack’s water and also 
eat any meat that he left lying around but would never approach 
nearer than about five or six yards from him. It was marvellous 
tlie way they knew when it was their feeding time, and to hear 
them sing to him from their ik safe margin” for him to move away 
and leave them some of his meat. We became more and more 
interested in the magpies as the months went on, as the same 
pair came always and the cock bird was a magnificent specimen, 
seeming a trifle larger than the usual bird. Thev also began to 
get comparatively unafraid of us. Mrs. James fed them fairly 
frequently by cutting up meat and leaving it on the back lawn. 
^One morning somewhere towards the end of last March 
(1932) my wife was watching through the back wire door when 
she saw the hen magpie flounder on to the lawn and rest there 
on one side of her body. She looked very distressed, and Mrs. 
James realised that something was wrong, and taking care not 
to disturb the bird in any way by going out into the yard, 
continued to watch her at various intervals. She stopped in the 
sarne position for about five hours that day. The next day she 
was back again and rested in the same way. only for a shorter 
period, but she came back in the afternoon and happening to 
‘^ee ^ iei fly* n R it was observed that one of her legs was broken. 
Mie had evidently come straight to the onlv sanctuary she knew 
\\ iere water and food could be obtained easily and without 
having to move around for it. 
01 couise, Mrs. James started putting out food every day 
and the magpie came daily and fed and rested. She had great 
c i ‘ lcult y in landing and taking off, and how she perched at night 
