Two for joy: despite this popular nursery rhyme, this bird doesn't have a good reputation. (Image credit: Getty Images)Firstly, we have to admit that the magpie doesn’t come to us with a clean moral sheet. Centuries of superstitions cast the bird as a villain or as an omen of ill fortune. Equally, those who cherish magpies for their beauty and resilience won’t condemn the bird for eating thrushes occasionally. It is we, ultimately, who have to learn to live with one another, just as, in Nature, magpies live alongside garden thrushes.