Magpies are birds, to which popular rumor ascribes a passion for petty theft and vain talk. Such a reputation for these birds has arisen not on an equal footing – magpies are really impressed with various shiny things, which they drag to their nest without discrimination. In addition, they are very sociable, and they are very fond of publicizing the neighborhood with loud croaking, sitting on a branch. Because of this croaking and common similarity, forty are sometimes confused with crows.
Magpies – one of the most intelligent birds that exist in nature. They have complex social rituals, which, in particular, serve to express sadness. Magpies are also one of the few non-mammals that recognize themselves in the mirror.
he Chinese consider the forty a bird of happiness that brings good luck to people. In Russian folklore, the magpie is more likely associated with the image of gossips and simply gossipy women. Magpies also call people who are fond of shiny things.
The nest of forty is shaped like a ball with a small hole that serves as an entrance. To protect their offspring, magpies prefer to spend the night in large flocks. Magpies are not migratory birds, but they are spread almost all over the world.
Magpies love the shiny objects very much. Birds decorate their trinkets with their nests, to bring themselves joy and attract a potential partner.
Surplus food these birds buried in the ground, and then without any problems find these caches. A rare case of thoughtful reserves – squirrels, for example, usually can not find some of their numerous caches with stocks.
Magpies collect ticks from the skins of large animals, sitting down on their backs. Birds can also pull out already bitten parasites.
Magpies can recognize a particular person not by smell or voice, but by face. This ability is in many vrganov.
In the XIV century, Metropolitan Alexy officially forbade magpies to approach Moscow – he believed that under the guise of birds in the city witches arrive. Pagan Slavs also associated forty with evil forces. According to the legends, the witch, turning to this bird, could steal the moon, replace the unborn child in the womb with a frog or a broom, or extort someone else’s cow so that her milk is gone.
The entrance to the nest of forty is always facing south, so that the dwelling is warmer. Life expectancy of Magpies, as a rule, is 12-15 years, but in exceptional cases they can live and twice as long.
