Magpie

a noisy, chattering bird of the crow family, closely allied to the jay. The common magpie of Europe, found also in Asia and America, is lustrous black, with green, purple, and violet sheen. The upper part of the breast and a portion of each wing is white. The adult is from fifteen to twenty inches in total length, of which a good half must be allowed to a diamond or trowel-shaped tail. The magpie is full of mimicry and audacity. It builds a bulky nest, usually in shrubbery, and is noted for the theft of numerous small articles to which it takes a fancy, giving rise in English households to serious inconvenience. Servants have not infrequently been accused of stealing tableware and jewelry which had in reality been purloined by some thievish old magpie. See Jay; Jackdaw; Crow