Magpie (Corvus pica).—Pages might be filled with the merry mischief of this handsome creature. Perhaps the most observable characteristic of the three tame ones closely observed was their exclusive and devoted attachment to one person, whom they singled out for no cause that could be known, and followed about from place to place.
Jay (Garrulus glandarius).—May be heard calling in the pine plantations on Hursley Common. It would be as amusing as the magpie if tamed.
Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis).—The laugh and the tap may be heard all through the Spring days. In 1890 Picus major, a small, black, and spotted French Magpie, as Devonians call it, was found, but we have no other right to claim it.
Wryneck (Yunx torquilla), or Cuckoo’s mate, squeaks all round the woods with his head on one side just as the cuckoo comes.
Nuthatch (Sitta europæa).—This pretty creature will come and be fed on nuts at windows in the winter. These nuts he thrusts into crevices of bark to hold them fast while he hammers the shell. The remains may often be found. For many years a pair built in a hole half-way down an old apple-tree covered with ivy at Otterbourne House, and the exertions of the magpie with clipped wing to swing himself on a trail of ivy into the hole were comical, as well as his wrath when he fell off, as he uniformly did.
Tree-Creeper (Certhia familiaris), winds round and round the trees like a little mouse.
Hoopoe (Upupa vulgaris).—Once in a frost caught alive by a shepherd on the downs, but it soon died.
Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus).—They cuckoo till “in June he altereth his tune.” Probably the stammer is the effort of the young ones to sing. One grew up in a wagtail’s nest in the flints that were built into the wall of Otterbourne Churchyard. Another, carried to the other side of the road and caged, was still fed by its foster-parents till it was ready to fly.
Wood-Pigeon (Columba palumbus)—
Take two cows, Taffy,
Taffy, take two-o-o.