Thursday, September 14, 2006

It's wonderful what you learn through blogging

As Zinnia in America and Steve in Germany were unfamiliar with magpies, I thought I'd do a bit of research.

First of all let me explain that magpies are unpopular with many people in Britain because, as members of the crow family, they include in their diet bird eggs, nestlings and even young rabbits. They are sometimes blamed for the decline in Britain's population of songbirds. However the RSPB undertook a study and found that songbird numbers were no different in places where there were many magpies from where there are few.

But now the really interesting bit.

According to the RSPB, when food is abundant, magpies hoard the surplus to eat later. They make a small hole in the ground with their beak, place the food in it and cover it with grass, a stone or a leaf. These caches are spread around their territory or home range.

So it looks like we have a particularly stupid magpie who can't remember where he hid his store and intends to dig up the entire garden until he finds something.

Now here's a little rhyme:

One for sorrow, two for joy;
Three for a girl, four for a boy;
Five for silver, six for gold;
Seven for a secret, never to be told;
Eight for a wish, nine for a kiss;
Ten for a bird that's best to miss.

It's an old rhyme but was made famous when it was used for a TV programme of the same name. Do you remember Magpie?

5 comments:

Clare said...

where does "hello Mr Magpie, how's your wife and kids" come from then...? I wonder why they're superstitious birds...

Anonymous said...

Liz, thanks for the update. Sounds like a mischievous bird.

Shirley said...

I love Magpies, you forgot to mention Liz their penchant for shiny things to line their nests with!

Clare isn't that the rhyme for Mrs Ladybird? Or maybe it is down here!

Liz Hinds said...

I found lots of references to the Mr Magpie rhyme on the net but no definite explanation. One person did suggest it was because magpies mate for life (allegedly) but i'm not sure where that leads us! I'd never heard of it before.

Clare said...

I think its something to do with the other rhyme, as in if he's got a wife and kids (who are currently absent), then there is more than one of them and therefore not sorrowful, but joyful... Does that make sense? It came to me in a blinding flash last night! Not sure about ladybirds though...