h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'm not really superstitious, but I just CANNOT see a magpie without saying 'Good morning, Mr. Magpie' (or 'Good Afternoon'). I can't even remember why you're supposed to say this. Can anyone help?

Maybe if you don't he'll visit your house and soil all the windows.
Can anyone provide an authoritative version of the magpie numerology?
One for sorrow
Two for joy
Three for a girl
Four for a boy
And some other stuff, I think.
Whenever I see a lone magpie I assume there's another one in the bushes somewhere.

he missing bits are:

5 for silver
6 for gold
7 for a secret that's never been told

My boyfriend is obssessed by magpies, and has to say hello to every single one he sees!!

Yes, but why?

I think it's something to do with a single magpie being the Devil in disguise. But if that's the case why don't you have to say 'Get thee behind me Satan!' or something like that?

Please, please, someone help me!

The greeting is a courtesy so that he won't bring you bad luck.

The last line that I've always heard is '7 for a secret ready to be told'. I also understand there's an alternative version that goes something like:

1 for sorrow
2 for mirth
3 for a wedding
4 for a birth

and ends '7 for a babe buried in the dark'. Can anyone help with 5 and 6?

no, but we had 3 for a death in that bit with the rest finishing as up top

1 for sorrow
2 for joy
3 for a letter
4 something better
5 for a wish
6 for a kiss
7 for a lifetime full of bliss
(The last line scans only if you say it really fast)

Now I come to think about it, I seem to remember an explaination that magpiues mate for life, so if you see a lone one it's either single or widowed. That might explain 1 and 2.

There's a pair of Magpies living next to the office where I work, and sometimes they come up to the first-floor window and peck it angrily (their reflections, I suppose). When ever I only see one of them, I always think it doesn't count because I know the other one's nearby (not that I believe that stuff anyway).
One day a few years back at work there was a huge crow which pecked at the window (never seen before or since), and that afternoon one of my colleagues went home and hanged himself completely unexpectedly (true). Are crows supposed to be unlucky?

Yes.
Also Ravens (see Macbeth)
Possible connection with preacher's black coats?/funerals?

Circling the battlefield feasting on the losers?

I'm not sure I've seen a magpie. Does it look anything like a raven or a crow? Someone please tell me so that I will know which bird I'm supposed to be saying hello to.

A magpie is a member of the crow family, but a raven and crow generally appear to be all black whereas the magpie has a white chest abd white flashes on the wings
http://www.wildlifeweb.f9.co.uk/birdlists/crows.htm
http://www.ex.ac.uk/~cnfrench/ics/cbru/monitor/picpic.htm

1 for sorrow
2 for mirth
3 for death
4 for birth
5 for silver
6 for gold
7 for a secret that's never been told

1 for sorrow
2 for joy
3 for a girl
4 for a boy
5 for silver
6 for gold
7 for a secret that's never been told


are the 2 versions I know.