There are many variations of the Magpie rhyme, but one of the most common versions is the version that I know :-
One for Sorrow,
Two for joy,
Three for a girl,
Four for a boy,
Five for silver,
Six for gold,
Seven for a secret never to be told.
Eight for a wish,
Nine for a kiss,
Ten a surprise you should be careful not to miss.
Eleven for health,
Twelve for wealth,
Thirteen beware it’s the devil himself.
Continued Reflections from my World. 
such a strange poem,It must be from a much older day
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Yes I think so – it is something I grew up with but much older. The start of it was used in a children’s TV programme called Magpie in the late 1960s
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I’ve never heard that poem and I grew up hearing a lot of English poems and songs which we recited in school while I still lived in Canada. Magpies seem to have an extraordinarily long tail unless it’s just the angle in the photo?
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Yes the Magpie has a long tail
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I guess i never noticed in pictures before, either yours or a South African and Australian blogger I follow, both whom post a lot of bird photos.
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