Comments on: Trove Tuesday – A Little Chatter About a Magpie

By: Merron Riddiford

Merron Riddiford — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 02:03:15 +0000

I think they were common as caged birds and I searched Trove and even found references to caged magpies up until the 1930s. When I originally saw this article it reminded me of Bryce Courtney’s The Potato Factory as one of the characters had a pet magpie. It could have even been Mary Abacus. It used to sit in her hair or her hat (been awhile since I read it). Keeping them like that seemed to me to be a sign of eccentricity and the article kind of confirms that.

By: Merron Riddiford

Merron Riddiford — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 01:58:13 +0000

It is funny. I love magpies and I have a magpie family that live in my paddock. They currently have three babies. The baby magpies are pathetic as they are almost as big as their parents but cry helplessly for food. I’ve also seen the babies play with the dog’s ball in the back yard. The sticks at the bus stop made me laugh as my son and his friend thought they would brave the magpie up the road and walk to the milk bar. Apparently on the way they got scared, ran into a house and were told to carry a stick. So they walked to the shop and back waving sticks.

By: Tanya Honey

Tanya Honey — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 00:41:24 +0000

I would love to know why you would buy a magpie to begin with! Too funny.

By: annodyne

annodyne — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 13:33:34 +0000

Fabulous. I don’t know what’s funnier – the 25 shillings is a huge amount of money, and the 20 quid is ‘tell him he’s dreaming’ territory, but the ‘the magpie is under a shawl and ‘screaming’? Everyone who has been pecked in the back of the head by a parenting bird is laughing at that one. I live in tall dense gumtrees and when I got to the bus shelter at the end of my street today there was a heap of big sticks there, used by travellers to ward off the head pecking on the way.
Magpies are very charming when they get tamed by daily dinner treats though.
Another great post MR, thanks.