Good morning Mr. Magpie. How is your lady wife today?
Seeing this collection of corvids in bushes just a few yards from home the other day set me to wondering what the collective noun for magpies might be. I knew about a murder and parliament of crows so a quick search came up with tidings, gulp, murder and charm of magpies. Seems you can also have a congregation and tittering of magpies as well. The well known counting song seems to stop at ten (for the devil's own self!) what you are supposed to say when there's fourteen or fifteen of the little beauties I don't know. Oh and did you know that three crows are a warning to sell your stocks and shares? You have been warned ...(Just been informed that, as I write, today, 29 October, is the anniversary of the Wall Street Crash!)
Now I quite like magpies but some people, who falsely call themselves conservationists, want to trap and kill them on the grounds that they eat song birds. It seems some birds are more equal than others to these perverted thinkers. These sick people use the hideous Larsen trap which involves a live magpie or crow being kept in a tiny cage as bait. It's a vile practice and really should be banned (you can sign a petition here much good it will do).
Quite a collection!
ReplyDeleteThis group is definitely a charm.
ReplyDeleteI'll sign it. If they eat birds, then that's nature's way.
They are wonderful birds. The only bird that has been shown to have self-awareness (they recognise their reflection in a mirror: even dogs & cats can't do that). All the corvids are highly intelligent.
ReplyDeleteMag pie is delicious. There's just about enough flesh on two magpies to fill a pie that can serve two. Add braised onions, chicken stock and a dash of Henderson's Relish under a golden puff pastry lid. The collective noun for several mag pies is a basketful.
ReplyDelete