Magpie

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This article is about the birds in the family Corvidae. For the Australasian bird in the family Artamidae, see Australian Magpie. For other uses, see Magpie (disambiguation).
Magpies
European Magpie
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Family: Corvidae
Genera

Magpies (IPA: /ˈmæɡˌpaɪ/, SAMPA: /"m{g%paI/) are passerine birds of the crow family, Corvidae. The names 'jay' and 'magpie' are to an extent interchangeable, although this does not accurately reflect the evolutionary relationship between these birds. For example, the Eurasian Magpie seems more closely related to the Eurasian Jay than to the Oriental Blue and Green Magpies, whereas the Blue Jay is not as closely related to either within the Corvid family.[citation needed]

In Europe, "magpie" is often used by English speakers as a synonym for the European Magpie, as there are no other magpies in Europe outside Iberia. That bird was referred to as a "pie" until the late 16th century when the feminine name "Mag" was added to the beginning.[1]

They are opportunistic scavengers and will eat anything once they have discovered it is edible. They are known to attack the nests of other birds and eat their fledglings.

The European Magpie is the only non-mammal known to be able to recognise itself in a Mirror test.[2]

Contents

[edit] Systematics and species

According to analysis,[3] magpies do not form the monophyletic group they are traditionally believed to be — a long tail has certainly evolved (or shortened) independently in multiple lineages of corvid birds. Among the traditional magpies, there appear to be two evolutionary lineages: One consists of Holarctic species with black/white coloration and is probably closely related to crows and Eurasian jays. The other contains several species from South to East Asia with vivid coloration which is predominantly green or blue. The Azure-winged Magpie is a species with a most peculiar distribution and unclear relationships. It may be the single survivor of a long extinct group of corvid genera.[citation needed]

Other research[4] has cast doubt on the taxonomy of the Pica magpies, since it appears that P. hudsonia and P. nuttalli may not be different species, whereas the Korean race of P. pica is genetically very distinct from the other Eurasian (as well as the North American) forms. Either the North American, Korean, and remaining Eurasian forms are accepted as 3 or 4 separate species, or there exists only a single species, Pica pica.

Holarctic (black-and-white) magpies

Oriental (blue/green) magpies

Azure-winged Magpie

[edit] Other "magpies"

  • The Black Magpie, Platysmurus leucopterus, despite its name, is neither a magpie nor, as was long believed, a jay, but a treepie. Treepies are a distinct group of corvids externally similar to magpies.
  • The Australian Magpie, Cracticus tibicen, is conspicuously piebald, with black and white plumage reminiscent of a European Magpie. It is a member of the family Artamidae, and not a corvid.


[edit] Magpie lore in Britain

The best know rhyme associated with magpies is:

One for sorrow,
 Two for joy,
 Three for a girl,
 Four for a boy,
 Five for silver,
 Six for gold,
 And seven for a secret never to be told.

This was popularised by the British children's programme Magpie.

One continued version[citation needed] of the poem is:

Eight's a kiss,
 Nine's a wish,
 Ten's a bird you should never miss.

In an alternative version, the last line of the poem is:

And ten's an evening ending in bliss

A classical version of the rhyme, that has became rather archaic over time is:[citation needed]

One's for sorrow,
 Two's for mirth,
 Three's a wedding,
 Four's a birth.
 Five's a christening,
 Six a death,
 Seven is heaven,
 Eight is hell.
 Nine is the devil, his ane sel.

[edit] Magpies in popular culture

  • Heckle and Jeckle, two magpies created by the Terrytoons cartoon studio, were popular on screen and in comic books. One had an English accent, the other a Brooklyn accent. Two magpies resembling the cartoon birds are featured in Windex commercials on TV.
  • Magpie is a song by The Mountain Goats, from the album The Sunset Tree.
  • Magpie is also a song by British singer Abraham, from the album Blue For The Most.
  • Football teams Newcastle United and Notts County are nicknamed 'The Magpies' due to the black and white colouring of their home kit.
  • Magpie is a summoning familiar in the MMORPG, Runescape.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Funk & Wagnalls Wildlife Encyclopedia, Volume 11, 1974, p. 1339.
  2. ^ Prior H. et al. (2008). "Mirror-Induced Behavior in the Magpie (Pica pica): Evidence of Self-Recognition". PLoS Biology (Public Library of Science) 6: e202. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.0060202. http://biology.plosjournals.org/archive/1545-7885/6/8/pdf/10.1371_journal.pbio.0060202-L.pdf. Retrieved 2008-08-21. 
  3. ^ Ericson et al. (2005)
  4. ^ Lee et al., 2003
  • Anonymous (2006): The Word Origin Calendar: Sat./Sun. March, 11-12, 2006. Accord Publishing.
  • Ericson, Per G. P.; Jansén, Anna-Lee; Johansson, Ulf S. & Ekman, Jan (2005): Inter-generic relationships of the crows, jays, magpies and allied groups (Aves: Corvidae) based on nucleotide sequence data. Journal of Avian Biology 36: 222-234. PDF fulltext
  • Lee, Sang-im; Parr, Cynthia S.; Hwang, Youna; Mindell, David P. & Choe, Jae C. (2003): Phylogeny of magpies (genus Pica) inferred from mtDNA data. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 29: 250-257. PDF fulltext
  • Tickner, Lisa (1980-04-01). "One for sorrow, two for mirth". Oxford Art Journal. http://www.jstor.org/view/01426540/ap040003/04a00100/0. Retrieved 2007-03-02. 

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magpie"