It really was - they were properly part of the family for a few months - and it used to go out and play in the garden and come back in the house when it was rea

It really was - they were properly part of the family for a few months - and it used to go out and play in the garden and come back in the house when it was ready to rest or hungry - at first we locked it in a cage at night but soon we didn't, and it was very happy. But for ages it couldn't feed itself and relied on me dropping cat food into its open beak with tweezers - I'm pretty sure it did this longer than it would in the wild. Then one day when it was playing in the garden it learnt how to catch worms and insects, and then the next day it started drinking from puddles and then the next day it just flew away. It might have returned, but to be honest even then it would have been hard to recognise amongst other magpies - but it never tried to come in the house again, even though we left the doors open. For a few years after (and even now to be honest) I sometimes shout 'Marilyn' when I see magpies - hoping it will recognise me ;) (we chose 'Marilyn' as I'd recently read it was historically a mans name, so I thought it was good to choose something gender neutral)