A magpie is unlikely to take a shine to your jewellery and might even be frightened by it, research has shown.
In a series of experiments, scientists debunked the common myth that magpies are inveterate trinket thieves.
They found that far from being attracted to shiny objects, the black and white birds tended to avoid them.
The tests were carried out at Exeter University both on wild magpies and a group of the birds housed at a rescue centre. They were exposed to shiny and non-shiny items and their reactions recorded.
Lead researcher Dr Toni Shephard, from the university's Centre for Research in Animal Behaviour, said: "We did not find evidence of an unconditional attraction to shiny objects in magpies. Instead, all objects prompted responses indicating neophobia - fear of new things - in the birds.
"We suggest that humans notice when magpies occasionally pick up shiny objects because they believe the birds find them attractive, while it goes unnoticed when magpies interact with less eye-catching items. It seems likely, therefore, that the folklore surrounding them is a result of cultural generalisation and anecdotes rather than evidence."
The magpie's tarnished reputation runs through folklore, literature and music. Rossini's opera The Thieving Magpie, first performed in 1817, tells the story of a servant girl wrongly accused of silver thefts committed by a magpie.
Magpies have traditionally been regarded as bearers of bad omens. Here, a magpie near a window is sometimes said to be a harbinger of death.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article