THE SAVAGE WORLD. 
329 
fairly well. Its nesting place is usually a thicket, or close fork of a large tree. 
The nest is built with great care, of fine and coarse sticks interlaced and 
then cemented with clay, and of 
spherical shape, with a hole 
through the centre from which the 
head and tail protrude. 
Magpies are frequently men¬ 
tioned in ancient history, and they 
have a conspicuous place in 
mythology. Ovid writes of an in¬ 
teresting family of young ladies 
who were changed into magpies: 
‘ ‘ And still their tongues went on, 
though changed to birds, 
In endless clack, and vast desire 
of words.” 
The Greeks and Romans dedi¬ 
cated the magpie to Bacchus, 
because of the garrulity that drink 
incites. 
The Blackbird ( Turdus vul¬ 
garis ) is of great variety, and found in both the old and new world. The 
Crow Blackbird ( Quiscalus purpureas') is found in immense flocks nearly 
everywhere in the United States and Mexico, where it ravages the fields and is 
a very pest to farmers. The Red Shouldered ( Agelaius phoeniceus ) is equally 
common, though it does not associate in large flocks, and is generally found 
in the company of other species, such as the crow blackbird and cow-bird. 
Its notes are musical but rather melancholy. 
The Cow-bird ( Molothrus pecoris ) has 
nothing to recommend it to favor, but much 
to condemn. The males are polygamous 
and the females are cuckolds, depositing 
their eggs in other birds’ nests when the 
rightful owner is temporarily absent, and 
imposing all the labor of rearing the young 
on the foster-parents. 
The Cat-bird ( Mimus carolinensis ) is 
very numerous in nearly every part of the 
United States, and is one of the earliest 
arrivals of spring. It is of a dull lead color, 
and gives out a very disagreeable note, re¬ 
sembling the mew of a cat, until the breed¬ 
ing season is nearly past, when the male 
pours forth a rich, warbling melody almost 
rivalling the mocking-bird. 
blackbird and nightingale. The Nightingale (, Sylvia luscinia ) is 
confined to the old world, appearing in Eng¬ 
land in the early spring, and retiring to the south early in the fall. It is 
about the size of our cat-bird, and of scarcely more attractive plumage, the 
raven ( Corvus corax) and magpie. 
