Magpie mayhem

[kustom66 <kustom66@optusnet.com.au>]

I mentioned that magpies attack people here in Canberra.

Then Ronald Orenstein wrote:
> No, they don't!  Australian magpies (Gymnorhina tibicen) are 
> completely different birds from the magpies of the Northern 
> Hemisphere, which are members of the Crow family.

Well, whatever they are, they most assuredly DO attack people. In pairs 
too.  I've seen this happen to a dog, people, and I've been the victim 
of it myself on several occasions.

A little girl had her eye taken out by a magpie here in Canberra a 
couple of years ago. My brother was gouged on the top of his head with 
blood drawn. I've personally been pinned to the ground by two of them 
acting in tandem, rescued by a friend who fortuitously arrived wielding 
a big stick. There was a magpie in our street many years ago that was 
so aggressive it got so people couldn't even leave their houses. A cop 
marksman was called in to shoot it.

So believe me - Aussie magpies attack people (and other mammals). 
Singularly and in tandem. I'm sure other Aussies on the list can back 
me up on this.

How can Aussie magpies not be related to crows, let alone other 
maggies?? We have crows here too. Are they not the same as N.H. crows?

-Peter Markmann