|
MAGPIE , or simply See also:PIE (Fr. pie), the prefix being the abbreviated See also:form of a human name (See also:Margaret'), a See also:bird once See also:common throughout See also:Great See also:Britain, though now nearly everywhere scarce. Its pilfering habits have led to this result, yet the injuries it causes are exaggerated by common See also:report; and in many countries of See also:Europe it is still the tolerated or even the cherished See also:neighbour of every See also:farmer, as it formerly was in See also:England if not in See also:Scotland also. It did not exist in See also:Ireland in 1617, when Fynes See also:Morison wrote his Itinerary, but it had appeared there within a See also:hundred years later, when See also:Swift mentions its occurrences in his See also:Journal to Stella, 9th See also:July 1711. It is now common enough in that See also:country, and there is a widespread but unfounded belief that it was introduced by the See also:English out of spite. It is a See also:species that when not molested is extending its range, as J. Wolley ascertained in See also:Lapland, where within the last See also:century it has been gradually pushing its way along the See also:coast and into the interior from one fishing-station or settler's See also:house to the next, as the country has been peopled.
Since the persecution to which the pie has been subjected in Great Britain, its habits have altered greatly. It is no longer the merry, saucy hanger-on of the See also:homestead, but is become the suspicious thief, shunning the gaze of See also:man, and knowing that danger may lurk in every See also:bush. Hence opportunities of observing it fall to the See also:lot of few, and most persons know it only as a curtailed See also:captive in a wicker cage, where its vivacity and natural beauty are lessened or wholly lost. At large few See also:European birds possess greater beauty, the pure See also:- WHITE
- WHITE, ANDREW DICKSON (1832– )
- WHITE, GILBERT (1720–1793)
- WHITE, HENRY KIRKE (1785-1806)
- WHITE, HUGH LAWSON (1773-1840)
- WHITE, JOSEPH BLANCO (1775-1841)
- WHITE, RICHARD GRANT (1822-1885)
- WHITE, ROBERT (1645-1704)
- WHITE, SIR GEORGE STUART (1835– )
- WHITE, SIR THOMAS (1492-1567)
- WHITE, SIR WILLIAM ARTHUR (1824--1891)
- WHITE, SIR WILLIAM HENRY (1845– )
- WHITE, THOMAS (1628-1698)
- WHITE, THOMAS (c. 1550-1624)
white of its scapulars and inner See also:web of the See also:flight-feathers contrasting vividly with the deep glossy See also:black on the See also:rest of its See also:body and wings, while its See also:long tail is lustrous with See also:green, See also:bronze, and See also:purple reflections. The pie's See also:nest is a wonderfully ingenious structure, placed either in high trees or See also:low bushes, and so massively built that it will stand for years. Its See also:foundation consists of stout sticks, See also:turf and See also:clay,
1 " Magot " and " Madge," with the same origin, are names, frequently given in England to the pie; while in See also:France it is commonly known as Margot, if not termed, as it is in some districts, Jaquette.wrought into a deep, hollow See also:cup, plastered with See also:earth, and lined with See also:fibres; but around this is erected a firmly interwoven, See also:basket-like outwork of thorny sticks, forming a See also:dome over the nest, and leaving but a single hole in the See also:side for entrance and exit, so that the whole structure is rendered almost impregnable. Herein are laid from six to nine eggs, of a See also:pale bluish-green freckled with See also:- BROWN
- BROWN, CHARLES BROCKDEN (1771-181o)
- BROWN, FORD MADOX (1821-1893)
- BROWN, FRANCIS (1849- )
- BROWN, GEORGE (1818-188o)
- BROWN, HENRY KIRKE (1814-1886)
- BROWN, JACOB (1775–1828)
- BROWN, JOHN (1715–1766)
- BROWN, JOHN (1722-1787)
- BROWN, JOHN (1735–1788)
- BROWN, JOHN (1784–1858)
- BROWN, JOHN (1800-1859)
- BROWN, JOHN (1810—1882)
- BROWN, JOHN GEORGE (1831— )
- BROWN, ROBERT (1773-1858)
- BROWN, SAMUEL MORISON (1817—1856)
- BROWN, SIR GEORGE (1790-1865)
- BROWN, SIR JOHN (1816-1896)
- BROWN, SIR WILLIAM, BART
- BROWN, THOMAS (1663-1704)
- BROWN, THOMAS (1778-1820)
- BROWN, THOMAS EDWARD (1830-1897)
- BROWN, WILLIAM LAURENCE (1755–1830)
brown and blotched with ash-See also:colour. Superstition as to the See also:appearance of the pie still survives even among many educated persons, and there are several versions of a rhyming adage as to the various turns of See also:luck which its presenting itself, either alone or in See also:company with others, is supposed to betoken, though all agree that the sight of a single pie presages sorrow.
The pie belongs to the same See also:family of birds as the See also:crow, and is the See also:Corvus See also:pica of See also:Linnaeus, the Pica caudata, P. melanoleuca, or P. rustica of See also:modern ornithologists, who have recognized it as forming a distinct genus, but the number of species thereto belonging has been a fruitful source of discussion. Examples from the See also:south of See also:Spain differ slightly from those inhabiting the rest of Europe, and in some points more resemble the P. mauritanica of See also:north-western See also:Africa; but that species has a patch of See also:bare skin of a See also:fine See also:blue colour behind the See also:eye, and much shorter wings. No fewer than five species have been discriminated from various parts of See also:Asia, extending to See also:Japan; but only one of them, the P. leucoptera of See also:Turkestan and See also:Tibet, has of See also:late been admitted as valid. In the See also:west of North See also:America, and in some of its islands, a pie is found which extends to. the upper valleys of the See also:Missouri and the Yellowstone, and has long been thought entitled to specific distinction as P. hudsonia; but its claim thereto is now disallowed by some of the best ornithologists of the See also:United States, and it can hardly be deemed even a See also:geographical variety of the Old-See also:World form. In See also:California, however, there is a permanent See also:race if not a See also:good species, P. nuttalli, easily distinguishable by its yellow See also:bill and the bare yellow skin See also:round its eyes; on two occasions in the See also:year 1867 a bird apparently similar was observed in Great Britain (Zoologist, See also:ser. 2, pp. 706, 1o16. (A.
End of Article: MAGPIE
Additional information and Comments
There are no comments yet for this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.
|
del.icio.us it!