One for sorrow, two for joy: why we count magpies
Opinion: as the nursery rhyme suggests, the bird is long associated with superstitions around bad luck, negativity and ill-omens The most intelligent species in the world is believed to be the magpie, a bird who is from the crow family. The bird looks black and white in colour but, if seen in sunlight and up close, it reveals a hue of purple-blue colour on the wings and green on the tail. The name is derived from two words 'mag' and 'pie'; 'mag' means to chatter, and ‘pie’ refers to the pied plumage of the bird. Years ago, ‘pied’ also was used to describe things with a mixture of col...
Source: rte.ie