The Sydney Morning Herald

August 4, 2000

London: A woman who began to leave bread for a magpie at her family home was amazed when she found that the bird was payin her for it in coins. The magpie, a regular diner at the Waring family home on Wirral, Merseyside, has so far left $4.42 in coins on the garden bird table. Gill Waring, 41, a mother of two from Rosefield Avenue, Bebington, began leaving bread for the bird and noticed one or two coins were being left behind each day. "I was baffled because I didn't know how the coins got there and then one day I looked out of the window and saw the magpie leaving money. I couldn't believe it," she said today. The bird arrives at 7.30am each day sharp. "I think the magpie must pick the coins up because I was told they are attracted to shiny things. He is a very clever bird," Waring said. Kirsty Peck, wildlife adviser at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, said: "No bird leaves something behind in exchange for food. "It is very unusual because exchanging something is a human trait and not common in birds. "I can only assume somebody has taught the bird to do this."

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