July, 19o2. I THE CONDOR 79 whoa," and continuing with such a variation of "whoas," "get-ups" and clucks that the poor horse would not know what to do. One of the most amusing uses to which the magpie puts his powers is to call the chickens--"chick-chick-chick- chick" and when they have run eager and expectant in the direction from which the sounds come, which is nat- urally the cage, to sieze one bv the comb or the back ?,f the neck and pull out a few feathers or spill a little blood. An old game hen used to respond to his calls, and as soon as she received atweak on the head would ruffle up and Begin a re.?ular fight through the wire net- ting. At this time John Henry exBiBit- ed himself at his best. While flying at the hen he would keep saying "chick- chick-chick, come on, come on, Harry, Harry--get up--hello," in fact, he would go through almost his entire vocabulary while fighting and pulling out feathers. He will sit by the hour on bright warm days and whistle and jabber, bringing in an intelligible word once in a while, but as a rule giving utterance to sounds, not native magpie language, yet still not capable of being translated into English. These sounds are similar to those uttered by very young children during their play in imitation of their elders. At times the bird's words are so opportunely chosen as to almost lead to a belief that they are spoken intelli- gently. I feel sure that this is the case when h'e calls "Harry" under certain conditions, such as when frightened or hungry, as my name pronounced in certain peculiar tones conveys these meanings. Both of my magpies talk and whistle, but it is John Henry who is most pro- ficient; in fact the talking and whistling qualities in the female are not developed to any such extent as in the male, but nay experience has been too limited to permit me to judge whether this peculiarity is due to the sexes or not. I understand, however, that male parrots talk better than females. As to the question of "splitting the tongue" as commonly expressed, which consists merely in cutting the membrane beneath the tongue to allow that mem- ber more freedom in movement, I am of the opinion that this operation would not be productive of any material im- provement in ?rticulation. My birds can speak almost as clearly when hold ing a stick or food or any kind of solid in the bill as when it is empty, the movement producing the sound coming from the throat. Mischievous by nature, they are al- ways looking around for bright objects to play with. They will spend half a day with a tin spoon, a piece of glass or a key. All play-things not too large are buried in sand or grass or covered over with sticks and leaves or poked into nooks and crevices in the cage. I have never experienced any difficulty in providing suitable food. They take kindly to raw meat, fresh fruit and berries, boiled eggs, nuts and bread. They are also very fond of cheese, and any kind of insects which have moder- ately hard shells and are not soft or slimy to the touch. Considering the comparative lack of attention necessary for their proper care, and the highly in- teresting results obtained for the time and labor spent, a pair of pet magpies is a very desirable acquisition to the list of household pets. Some Echoes from the Sierras. BY C. BARLOW'. HE Lake Tahoe stal?e road was traversed by a goodly number of Cooper Club members during June 19o2 , indicating that this interesting region still holds charms for the ornith- ologist. W.W. Price has his usual summer school at Glen Alpine, while John M. Willard of Oakland is looking
