The chattering Magpie is found chiefly in the cultivated and wooded parts of Britain and Ireland; it is an _omnivorous_ feeder, that is, it eats almost anything--_omnes_ in Latin, you know, means all. It is a shy watchful bird, and very difficult to catch; it has a fine broad tail, but we never heard that any one was able to put salt upon it. Such a quick eye the fellow has, and a way of twisting himself about, so as to be looking every way at once; you would catch a weasel asleep sooner than you would Maggie. The nest is made with a hole in the side, from whence a sharp look-out can be kept. It is placed in some thick bush, or tall prickly hedge, generally at a considerable distance from the ground; it is of a longish oval shape, and made of sticks and thorns, cemented together with mud; on the lining of roots and grass lie the bluish white eggs, spotted over with grey and greenish brown; there may be six, seven, or even eight of them, although very rarely so many as the latter number. The breeding-time is quite early in the spring, and the same nest is resorted to by one pair of birds year after year.
It is thus that Bishop Mant describes the mode and place of building of what he calls the "Artful Pie."
"On turf-reared platform intermixt, With clay and cross-laid sticks betwixt, 'Mid hawthorn, fir, or elm tree slung, Is piled for the expected young, A soft and neatly-woven home, Above of tangled thorns a dome, Forms a sharp fence the nest about, To keep all rash intruders out. So like a robber in his hold, Or some marauding baron bold, On coasted cliff in olden time, They sit unblenched in state sublime, And fortress intricately planned; As if they felt that they whose hand Is aimed at others, rightly deem The hand of others aimed at them. So there they dwell, man's dwellings nigh, But not in man's society;-- Arabian-like: and little share His love, nor for his hatred care; Prompt of his rural stores a part To seize, and joyful of their art His efforts at revenge elude."
In scientific language _Corvus glandarius_, or _Garrulus glandarius_; the specific name is from the Latin, and signifies of or belonging to acorns; the second generic name is also Latin, and means chattering or talkative, a leading characteristic of this bird, whose harsh cry is frequently heard amid the stillness of the solitary woods.