Magpie is a common bird, which often appears between the foot of the mountain and the edge of the forest, between trees, roofs and crops around villages or cities. In the early morning, they often fly to open fields and vegetable gardens in pairs or in groups in search of food. They are omnivorous birds. According to the investigation of scientific workers in Nanjing and Hunan, more than 80% of magpies' food in a year is insects that harm crops, such as locusts, grubs, scarabs, moth larvae or pine caterpillars. And 65,438+05% are the seeds of cereals and plants, as well as birds, snails, melons and weeds. So magpies are very beneficial to human beings. Hard-working farmers, working in the fields in the early morning, see magpies jumping in pairs on the grass to chase pests, and will not avoid humans, so they have a love for it, and its loud and monotonous chirping is hailed as a good omen. In the ancient book Miscellanies of Xijing, there is a saying that "dry magpies make trouble and pedestrians arrive", which must be the reason why magpies report good news.
As for crows, like magpies, they belong to passerine crows and are also common birds in plains, agricultural areas, villages and urban forests. During the day, they often feed in groups of three or five, foraging in farmland, grass beaches and garbage dumps beside roads. They have all kinds of eating habits, and some species prefer corpses. According to the investigation of 1956- 1958 in Changli, Hebei and Beijing suburbs, the proportion of food in it will be different in different periods. For example, in the spring and summer breeding season with more insects, the staple food is crickets, locusts, scarabs and Lepidoptera, which is beneficial to the growth of crops. When sowing in spring and harvesting in autumn, they went to the fields to find the grain seeds and seedlings left by the ridge road, which was not very harmful and was beneficial to the cleaning work. However, when people hear its harsh and monotonous cry, see its dark feathers hovering around rotten things, or fidget in the tree, giving people an unpleasant feeling, they regard it as an ominous bird. In fact, if we pay attention to the expulsion when sowing in spring, it can also be regarded as an insect-eating bird from its annual feeding habits.
So magpies reporting good news and crows making trouble are all folk superstitions and legends, and there is no scientific basis.
Edited on 2013-10-11.
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