East Suffolk Magpies

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EAST SUFFOLK

EAST

MAGPIES.

SUFFOLK B Y GEORGE

263

MAGPIES. BIRD.

ALTHOUGH Magpies {Pica rustica, Scop.) and their nests are familiar objects in the Midlands, they are rarely seen in east Suffolk. Düring the present season I have been fortunate in observing four pairs of the birds, all within measurable distance of Ipswich. One of these had a family that came to grief quite early in their career, indeed before they had even viewed the world from their cradle. T h e other three pairs were luckier : two had families of four young and the last had five, all of which took safely to wing during the first week of June.*

On 21 March I found a Magpie's nest being built and possibly the work had been already going on for a week, as in the early days building is slow, while courting takes up most of the time. The nest is a huge, domed structure of sticks and this one was reared in the topmost fork-branches of a tall Whitethorn, the walls being strongly cemented with clay within, forming a large basin-shaped nest. On inspection in April I saw four mottled eggs, somewhat similar in colour to although larger than those of Blackbirds. Upon further inspection on 7 May I found four chicks in the nest. But these observations do not represent the period of incubation, for the nest was difficult of access and I was anxious not to disturb the family, so attempted no accurate dates. T h e chicks grow quickly and, when being fed, become both noisy and ravenous as time proceeds. But the parent birds are extremely stealthy, employing no small amount of woodcraft when stealing backwards and forwards to the nest. Feeding the young is effected by regurgitation, and it is impossible to State any definite opinion as to the material conveyed. However, it would seem that in their hunt for food the parents favour such materials as dead rats and rabbits, or raw flesh of any kind : certainly they are scavengers, rather than robbers of e ggs or young chickens. This is best shown by the fact that a gamekeeper had his coops of young Pheasants in the self-same meadow as the above nest, without being aware of its presence °r missing a single bird from his preserve. My photograph portrays Miss Magpie in the act of calling her brothers to come and watch the keeper, after their first short flight. y ' m a n a g e d to pay only a Aying visit to Suffolk, while on leave f r o m y P I * * " u r m a this year. N e a r S a x m u n d h a m I was shewn a live young j a > p l e > which had heen reared on a f a r m where the fields had reverted I hope the Society fl *-™°st primaeval conditions of t h o r n and jungle. ourishes, as f r o m the Transactions it seems to do.—J. K. STANFORD, m lit. 3 Oct. 1934.


YOUNG

MACHE

IN

NEST.


264

EAST SUFFOLK

MAGPIES.

[We are constantly surprised by the n u m b e r of Magpies around East Bergholt. T h e r e was not one fifteen years ago ; now you see a few at every walk (Miss Harwood). T h e y were very rare at R u s h m e r e before 1932, b u t one probably nested at Playford in that year because I saw five in Playford W a r r e n ; as well as a young brood in 1934 (Miss King). T h e r e was a Magpies' nest at Sutton H o u g h in 1933, and a pair were there for some time in 1934 ( M a j o r Cooper). I have not seen a Magpie in the Lowestoft district since 1909 (F. C. Cook). Keepers, w h o m I have interrogated in east Suffolk, consider the Magpie very rare, though one at Claydon reports t h e m not at all u n c o m m o n around that village ; but I myself have not observed one anywhere near Ipswich for m a n y years ( T . G . P . ) . In west Suffolk, the Revd. R. B. Caton saw a few pairs about Fakenham in 1914-8 ; but, when keepers returned f r o m the army, they were quickly shot and are now practically extinct in that district.—Sufficient data are not yet forthcoming for safe generalisation ; b u t one can say that probably Magpies are very rare throughout t h e eastern strip of county, t h o u g h less so in the district lving west of Ipswich ; and that there would undoubtedly be a general increase if the species were left unmolested.—Respecting their mischief, M r . Caton considers b u t little damage is done to eggs, indeed less than by Crows and Jackdaws. Miss H a r w o o d , with practical knowledge of a poultry farm, emphatically denies any h a r m to young chickens (cp. Trans, supra, p. 191). Miss K i n g and a local keeper consider them entirely innocuous to g a m e . — T . G . P . ]

A H A N D S O M E LEECH.—At Knettishall on 18 January last I captured a Leech, which looks an unusual species ; I am sure it is neither the Horse nor the Medicinal ones, since I have known b o t h for some years. It is about an inch long when extended and the ground colour is dark brownish green, having a yellow transverse bar on each segment, and these bars are connected b> a narrow yellowish dorsal line longitudinally f r o m head to tau , there is a row of lateral dots of the same colour ; the tail sucker is larger than the capital one, which latter seems of unusually great size for a Leech. I kept it for a few days in an aquarium, where it persisted in attaching itself to the sides of small Roach and succeeded in killing two or three of t h e m . At present it i» living, apparently quite happily, solum in a test-tube E. H . K I R K B Y ; 25 Jan. 1933. [My brother, M r . W . N. Blair, says the Leech is undoubtedly Hemiclepsis marginata, Mul •> a fish-parasite and the handsomest British species.—DR. BLAIR ]


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