452 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[March 19, 1910. 
in that neighborhood, which seems to me emi¬ 
nently unsuited through lack of proper mosses 
for their support all the year round. The failure 
of the herd during the summer months was a 
thing to be expected, and has not in the very 
least discouraged our herders in the north. The 
remains of the Grand Falls herd was returned 
to us and has not lost a single additional deer. 
For hauling fire wood they are all that is needed, 
but our hope is that people will spare the woods 
and use peat.” W. J. Carroll. 
The Magpie. 
It is curious that the American magpie does 
not range east of the Missouri River. Certainly 
there is nothing in the nature or character of 
the bird to account for it. Strong,-hardy, bold, 
intelligent, it is fit to fight the battle of life any¬ 
where. Yet it confines itself strictly to the West¬ 
ern States. This is one of the problems which 
the science of ornithology does not solve. 
From what Mrs. Frances Palmer tells us in 
a recent number of Forest and Stream about 
the interesting species referred to, it appears to 
be a full first cousin to Pica rustica of the Brit¬ 
ish Isles. The latter has long been famous as 
perhaps the most ruse among birds. It takes a 
special delight in thieving and of a kind to 
entitle it to be ranked with the light-fingered 
fraternity. The following incident will serve as 
an example: An old lady sat in a garden read¬ 
ing. Having laid down her book and spectacles 
to re-enter the house, when she returned the 
spectacles were gone. Subsequently they were 
discovered in a magpie’s nest. This is another 
incident that comes to mind: A laundress spread 
out some pretty lace handkerchiefs to dry. In 
the evening two were missing. Again the mag¬ 
pie’s nest yielded up the booty. Nothing, in fact, 
that it can carry off comes amiss to the thief. In 
the spring it is to be seen upon the backs of 
sheep levying tribute on their wool and when 
hunger tempts, it will drop into the farm yard 
and feast upon young chickens. 
The nest, of which mention has been made, 
deserves a few words of description. First a 
deep bowl is worked out of clay and fine twigs. 
Around this is erected a dome of thorny sticks 
which is added to year after year. This event¬ 
ually becomes so thick and strong that it would 
take a pickax to break it down. 
The thieving propensities of the magpie have 
made it unpopular in Great Britain. But what 
has made it still more unpopular is the belief 
that it brings ill luck. There are different super¬ 
stitions in regard to this. Some believe that in 
numbers of two or more the magpie may bring 
good fortune, but all agree that a single one 
bodes evil. There is nothing to throw light on 
the origin or reason of this superstition. In the 
case of the raven we may be quite sure that it 
is its sinister appearance and lugubrious croak 
which cause it to be regarded with fear. But 
there is nothing sinister or lugubrious about the 
magpie; quite the contrary. Yet the superstition 
in regard to it is as stated. 
Peasants will turn back on their way to fair 
or market on meeting a magpie. An old rhyme 
in England has it: 
Whoever meets a single pie. 
His fortune’s sure to go awry; 
He may be sick or even die; 
But if he meets with two or more, 
Good luck will greet him at his door. 
In Ireland they say: 
Ill luck it brings to meet a crone— 
The worse if she be civil; 
But he that meets a pie alone. 
Had better meet the divil! 
And in Scotland ; 
One’s sorrow, two’s mirth, 
Three’s a wedding, four’s a birth. 
Five’s a christening, six a death, 
Seven’s heaven, eight is hell. 
And nine’s the devil his ane sel’l 
Shakespeare, who referred to most things, did 
not overlook the magpie. In “Macbeth” we find 
the following: 
Augurs and understood relations have 
(By magotpies,* and choughs, and rooks) brought 
forth 
The secret’st man of blood. 
Bad as the reputation of the magpie is, it does 
not prevent some people from making a pet of 
it. But it is prudently kept in a cage and not 
allowed to wander at large, like Mrs. Palmer s 
bird. As a chatter-box, when taught to talk, it 
is very amusing. But it is considered that the 
starling and the jackdaw exceed it in enuncia¬ 
tion. 
The magpie is now quite rare in England, 
though, strange to say, in Ireland, where super¬ 
stition among the peasantry might be supposed 
to linger longer, it is common enough. 
Frank Moonan. 
*Magotpie was the old form of the name, from magot, 
a contraction of Margaret. But it is not improbable 
that this is a corruption. Why magot? A much more 
plausible derivation is that given by an old etymologist, 
viz., from the Gaelic of mag, to mock, and pighe, a bird. 
Certainly the chattering of a magpie sounds remarkably 
like mocking laughter. 
New York Audubon Society. 
The annual meeting of the Audubon Society 
of the State of New York was held on Thurs¬ 
day, March 17, 1910, at the American Museum 
of Natural His.tory, Eighth avenue and Seventy- 
seventh street, New York, at 3:30 p. m. The 
report of the secretary-treasurer was read and 
this was followed by the election of officers. 
Then came an address on plumage legislation 
by T. Gilbert Pearson, who was followed by 
Donald D. Macmillin, of the Peary Polar ex¬ 
pedition, who gave an illustrated lecture on 
Arctic Bird Life. 
Passenger Pigeons Report* d. 
Massillon, Ohio, March 11. — Editor Forest 
and Stream: About the middle of last October 
I saw a flock of seventeen wild pigeons flying 
over Massillon, going south. I know these birds 
well, having seen lots of them in my boyhood 
days. This is the only flock I remember to have 
seen for years. 
I hope the good sense of the American people 
will manifest itself by their letting these birds 
piously alone, and there is a possibility of their 
increasing to something at least approaching 
their former numbers. E. N. Pease. 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly. 
Recent Publications. 
Stickeen, by John Muir. Cloth, 76 pages, 60 
cents net. New York, Houghton, Mifflin 
Company. 
In this little masterpiece—a true adventure told 
in picturesque and almost poetic prose—John 
Muir, one of the foremost explorers and nature 
writers of America, is seen at his best. It is a 
moving story of a faithful dog and a perilous 
escape in the glacier country. For all readers 
who appreciate perfect writing, whose blood is 
stirred by tales of open-air mountain life, and 
for all dog lovers, the appeal of this story is 
powerful and unique. 
Stalks Abroad, by Harold Frank Wallace, F. Z. 
S. Cloth, 269 pages, illustrated, $3.50 net. 
New York and London, Longmans, Green & 
Company. 
Gratifying a life-long desire to see the Yel¬ 
lowstone Park, the author passed a vacation 
there and was greatly impressed by what he saw. 
Hunting big game in Wyoming and in British 
Columbia followed. Other chapters relate to 
shooting in New Zealand, Japan, India and Brit¬ 
ish East Africa. It is a pleasing story of sport 
in widely separated parts of the world, and the 
engravings from drawings and photographs with 
which the volume is embellished, are superior to 
those usually brought back by the average hun¬ 
ter who is not a skilled artist or photographer. 
The Mystery of Miss Motte, by Caroline At¬ 
water Mason. Boston, L. C. Page & Co. 
A novel full of complicated situations, but, 
pleasing withal. 
Kings in Exile, by Charles G. D. Roberts. 
Decorated cloth, 300 pages, illustrated with 
full page drawings, $1.50. New York, the 
Macmillan Company. 
In this volume Prof. Roberts relates a num¬ 
ber of interesting stories regarding the former 
natural and the present artificial homes of bears, 
pumas, moose and other zoological park animals. 
Their capture and the events leading up to it 
prove interesting reading, and the drawings by 
Paul Branson, Philip R. Goodwin and Charles 
Livingston Bull are exceptionally good. 
Books Received : “In the Grip of the Nyika,” 
by Lieut.-Col. J. H. Patterson; the Macmillan 
Company. “Trees,” Vol. V., by H. M. Wood; 
Putnams. “National Salvation,” by Charles Ash¬ 
bury Stephens; the Laboratory Company, Nor¬ 
way, Maine. “Scientific American Boy at 
School,” by A. Russell Bond; Munn & Co. “The 
Columbia River,” by W. D. Lyman; Putnams. 
“Lake Victoria to Khartoum,” by Capt. F. A. 
Dickenson; John Lane Company. “Beasts and 
Men,” by Carl Hagenbeck; Longmans, Green & 
Co. “Trailing and Camping in Alaska,” by A. 
M. Powell; Newold Publishing Company. “The 
Salmon Rivers and Lochs of Scotland,” by W. 
L. Calderwood; Longmans, Green & Co. “Motor 
Boats, Construction and Operation,” “Ignition, 
Timing and Valve Setting,” and “Automobile 
Driving,” all by Thomas H. Russell and pub¬ 
lished by the Charles C. Thompson Company, 
Chicago. “Hunting in British East Africa,” by 
Percy C. Madeira; Lippincott. 
