leave it, even when he is so tired as hardly to be able to fly.
The Magpie will always endeavour to make his way to some
strong cover; care, therefore, must be taken to counteract
him, and to drive him to that part of the ground where the
bushes are farthest from each other. I t is not easy to take
a Magpie in a hedge. Some of the horsemen must, be on
each side of i t ; some must ride behind, and some before
him; for, unless compelled to rise, by being Surrounded oil
all sides, he will flutter along the hedge, so as to shelter
himself from the stoop of the Falcon. Many requisites are
necessary to afford this sport in perfection;—a favourable
country, good Hawks, and able assistants.1’ ■
Magpies generally continue in pairs all the year round.
They build in high trees, sometime^ in a lofty hedge, and
occasionally in a low but thick bush, returning to the same
nest for several year's in succession. The nest is well constructed
for security against enemies ; it is of an oval shape,
and large, framed on the outside with sharp thorny sticks,
strongly interwoven, and forming a dome over the top. The
framework of sticks is plastered with earth on the inside,
and afterwards covered with a lining of fibrous roots and dry
grass. One small aperture is left on the side ju tt large
enough to admit- the parent bird, who generally sits with her
head to the hole, ready to quit the nest on the slightest
alarm.
The Magpie breeds early in spring, producing six or seven
eggs of a pale bluish-white ^eUlour, spotted all over with ash-
colour and two shades of greenish brown; the length one
inch four lines and a half; the breadth one. inch.
When taken young the Magpie is easily tamed, chatters
to those who feed or notice him, imitates the sound of the
human voice, and learns many amusing tricks; the desire to
pilfer and hide any small shining article, observable In all the
birds of this family, is particularly conspicuous in the Magpie,
and has been made the subject of a dramatic performance
of an interest - so intense, fhat few who have witnessed the
exhibition are likely to forget.
The young birds of the year associate with the parents
for a considerabfegtime; and in winter these birds, in small
flocks, roost together in thick woods, but separate again in
the day.
The Magpie, in this country, has a bad name, and is
accordingly doomed to destruction by every one who carries
a gun.; But for its sagacity^ eminently evinced in its self-
preservation, -it would be a rare b ird ; it is, however, very
common in . many parts of England* . particularly in the
hooded-districts, and not much less.- so in other quiet parklike
localities, where it can have the shelter, the means of
observation, and the security afforded by high trees. In my
note-book I have a memorandum that I once counted twem-
■'three Magpies together in Kensington Gardens.
I t is-now also common-throughout Ireland ; but that this
was not the case in that country ■ formerly, the following
account, supplied me by my friend Mr. Ogilby, will show :__
“ The earliest notice I have met with on the subject of the
-introduction of Magpies into Ireland is contained in the
following verses of old Derrick, who, in his “ Image of Ireland,”
says,—H No Pies to plucke the thatch from house
Are bred in Irish grounde,
But worse than Pies the same to bume
A thousand male be founde.”
It would appear, therefore, that, in the time of Queen Elizabeth,
the Magpie did not exist in Ireland: and even so
late as the year 1711, it seems to have been confined to the
Neighbourhood of Wexford, where, however, it must have
been introduced long prior to that period, since Swift, in the
following extract, speaks of it as indigenous to that part of
the country. The passage occurs in the twenty-sixth letter