uly, 1917 HABITS OF THE MAGPIE IN SOUTHEASTERN WASHINGTON 123 taken for pets, the rest being killed. The history of the nest in 1907 is not known, but in 1908 it was again occupied by a pair of magpies. Magpies are sometimes kept as pets, and, if taken when young and kept away from their own kind, readily learn to say a number of words and phrases. They are more apt to be friendly with, and talk to, strangers than to members of the family where they are kept. Especially the person who does the feeding is likely to be discriminated against in favor of some one else less familiar to the bird. A magpie will sometimes be very talkative to a person dressed in "Sunday" clothes, who would not be noticed in ordinary ranch attire. Magpies have a bad reputation as thieves. In the Touchet Valley they are destructive to hens' eggs and small chickens. They break the eggs with their strong bills and usually devour them on the spot. They also destroy the Fig. 45. YOUNG MAGPIES, NEAI?LY LARGE ENOUGH TO DESERT THE NEST; PRES- COTT, WASHINGTON. eggs and young of native wild birds. On April 27, 1906, one ate two eggs from the nest of a Long-eared Owl, from which the parent birds had been driven away by shooting. Ripe cherries are a favorite food when they can be obtained; these are eaten at the tree, or may be carried away in the bill to be eaten in the seclusion of the more dense brush. The birds feed also on the carcasses of dead animals, or on any offal that may be available. On account of their depredations, magpies are constantly hunted. They are very wary, however, and this, combined with their adaptability in the mat- ter of food, their protected nests, and good-sized families, enables them to thrive. In spite of an occasional one that is shot, or of a few nestsful of young that are destroyed with malignant intention, they are not decreasing in abund- ance in the region.
