On Aggression Of Australian Magpies Poem by Francis Duggan

With aggression they defend their territories and their source of food
And it is said of them that they have a call for their every mood
I have seen them aggressive to other birds and even to their own kind
The black and white Australian magpies to violence are often inclined
From their territorial borders only the other day
I have seen them chase crimson rosellas away
Among the more aggressive of Australia's song birds they surely do rate
Birds they do not see often in their territories they do not tolerate
Yet among Australia's finest feathered songsters they surely belong
And once seen and once heard one can never again get them wrong
They have even been known to attack humans in their nesting time
Violence towards others among Nature's creatures is never a crime
I have seen them attack and kill blackbirds and silver-eyes
To Nature's beauty there can be a dark side i have come to realize.