P ica. Generic Characters.—-Beak strong, compressed laterally,,--slightly
arched and hooked at the tip. Nostrils basal, covered 'lay-short stiff feathers,-
directed forwards. Wings short and rounded; first quill-feather very short,
the fourth or fifth the longest in the wing. Tarsus longer than the middle toe.
Tail long and graduated.
T he Long-tailed Pie kind among the Crows, or Corvid<e,
admitted as a section by M. Temminck, have been .advanced
to generic^ distinction by Brisson, Dumeril,' Cuvier, and
Vieillot; and in this generic separation thepfe v.systematic
naturalists have been followed by most recent: writers on
the subject. The necessity for such subdivision-has been
long felt, and even anticipatedVour Magpie^js the Pica
caudata of Gesner and R a y ; fourteen on sixteen specie^ of
the genus are now known and admitted .by Wagler and
others, of which one only is British. 0
Although no bird in -our catalogue, is 'better known; than
the Magpie, yet accustomed only, as we-are, Ito'^eefit at a
distance in the fields., or penned ^uplfla a cage where its
plumage is soiled and disfigured by confinemenj;, its singular
beauty is almost pnsuspected ; yet with an''agreeable variety
and arrangement in the principal colours, t^-felack and tlfe
white are as pure, as the green, the blue, and the purple, with
their ever-varying reflections, are brilliant.
With a handsome exterior, the Magpie is, however, a u s picious
character ; and though cautious to a -degree, it. rarely^
removes far from the habitations of man. Its attachment,
as observed by Montagu, “ is governed by self-rinterest.;. it
is a great enemy to the husbandman and the preserver of
game; but has cunning enough to evade their wrath. No
animal food, comes amiss to its carnivorous- appetite; young,
poultry, eggs, young lambs,, and even weakly -sheep it will
attempt to destroy by first plucking out their eyes; the
young of hares, rabbits, and feathered game, share the same
fa te ; fish, earripn, insects, and fruit, and, lastly, grain, when
nothing else can be got. It is an artful noisy bird, proclaiming
aloud any apparent danger, and thereby gives notice
to'its associate's! - Neither the fox, or other wild animal, can
appear wi’tbout being observed and haunted; even the fowler
h frequently spoiled of his sport, for all other birds seem to
kno%* tfealarm ing chatter-’of the Magpie/’^
- *0$ Magpie-hawking, Sir Jbjfn Sebright saysj--*“ Nothing
\cambe u n o |^ animating! thau> this»sport-: it is, in my opinion,
iar superior to’-Ovb^-other -kind efchawking.- The object of
theh©IWS#is fu ll^ a match for its pursuers,—a .requisite absd-
1 utely'htehe§#afy^l^giVe.an interest-to afcy sport of this kind ;
aud^rit ‘hate the advah|^% oi^giving full employment to the
C^mpahiyspwhich ^is sno10 the® caS^ ‘fek Partridge-hawking. * A
.doMi:e^i*^,i i ^ « where low .'freed* or thorn bushes are dis-
the distanced'of ■ from -thirty fifty yards apart,- Is
tbe^lad^b^st^ciilfulatedi for 'this?diversion. When a Maos--
pi^i'Sl^^^t&d''distance,-a Hawk is immediately* to’ be caSt
off... The Magpie'-wall ftake refuge in a bush the moment
that he Falcet*; < und wilk rehaai® there until the fabcohej
arrive,-with? the Hawk waiting on in the air. The
MagpieiS to?||J| driven from -1 his. retreat; and the Hawk, if at
a gdptfcpitch, will stoop at him as he passes to another bush;
from whence -he?Jl #o be driven in the same way; another
Hawk having been prev-Msiy cast- off, so that one W the
other may always^te so’situated'" asrSfc attack him to advantage.
Th& second Hawk is necessary, for the Magpie shifts
with great cunning and dexterity to avoid, the stoop; and
when hard- pressed, owing to the busHes being rather far
apart, will paste underi the bellies of the horses, flutter along
a cart-rut, and avail himself of every little inequality of the
ground in orde* to escaper Four or five assistants, besides
the falconer, who should attend: solely to his Hawks, are
required for this sport. They should be well mounted, and
provided mth whips ; for the Magpie cannot be driven from
a bush by a stick but the crack of a whip will force him to