REASON. 
133 
if the Duck has succeeded in catching a fish, they imme¬ 
diately dash down and try to snatch it away: this they 
often succeed in doing, for the diving Ducks are in the 
habit always of swallowing their food above water; and, 
in spite of repeated diving to gain time, they are gene¬ 
rally unsuccessful in their attempts to save their dinner. 
Coots are as active and quite as impudent as the Gulls. 
I have seen them snatch food out of the very beaks of the 
Swans, which the latter had just brought up from the 
bottom. These examples which I have quoted are by no 
means uncommon. Other instances have been observed 
which are still more remarkable. A friend of mine, a 
clergyman of undoubted veracity, told me the following 
charming anecdote of a tame Magpie. “ This bird had 
its abode among the Hens and Chickens in the yard, 
though under rather disagreeable circumstances, owing 
to its being chased at meal-times by the Fowls, &c. In 
these squabbles the Magpie was generally attacked by 
two Hens at once, and, getting the worst of it, had 
to stand by and see his enemies feed,—unable to 
partake of the feast himself. This state of things pro¬ 
duced a bitter feeling, which soon gave the spur to the 
natural talent for artfulness and slyness, so inherent in 
the Magpie, and led the bird to substitute roguery for the 
strength he did not possess. His tactics were these :—he 
now began the quarrel himself while the Fowls were 
feeding; these, angered at the interruption of their meal, 
immediately left their food to chastise the intruder, who, 
however, screaming and aggravating, kept hopping away 
just in front of the enraged enemy, till he had at last 
enticed them some distance from their food; then, 
suddenly taking wing, back flies Mr. Magpie, snaps up a 
fine piece of potato, which he bears off in triumph, and 
T 
