The truth about magpies

Supposedly they steal shiny objects to line their nests, but that story comes from a 19th-century French play

Presented by

Henry Nicholls

Reputation: Magpies are well known for their thievery, avidly collecting shiny objects to adorn their nests. They will also feed on the eggs and chicks of defenceless songbirds, a nasty habit that has caused a decline in many familiar species.

Reality: Magpies are not thieves, merely inquisitive. They are interested in objects but show no preference for shininess. It's true that they are voracious predators of songbirds, but there is no evidence that this has resulted in a population crash.

Magpies do not have the best of reputations. There are actually many species of magpie, but most of the rumours centre on Eurasian magpies (Pica pica).

In 1815, two French playwrights penned a "historical melodrama" called La Pie Voleuse, in which a servant is sentenced to death for stealing silverware from her master, when the real thief is his pet magpie. Moved by the Parisian urban myth, Gioachino Rossini set his opera La gazza ladra to the same story. This effectively nailed the magpie's character to the gibbet of popular opinion.

Fast-forward 200 years and researchers subjected magpies toexperiments that finally put the thieving stereotype to the test. They gave wild Eurasian magpies two piles of nuts. One was near shiny objects like screws, rings and rectangles of aluminium foil; the other was near the same objects sprayed matte blue.

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