Chinanews, Xi'an, June 13 – After a small magpie died, a dozen of magpies hovered around the tree where it died. The adult magpies “guarded” the tree and wouldn't allow anybody to come near. If anyone did come near the tree, the magpies would peck at his or her head, the Chinese Business View reported.Last Sunday, at noon, some traffic police were patrolling streets in Xi’an. When the police walked at the crossroad in Wenyi and Youyi streets, they found a strange scene. Whenever pedestrians walked by a tree near the roadside, a group of magpies would dive on him or her and pecked at his or her head. Many pedestrians were hurt in this way. The policemen didn't know why these magpies were so angry. At last, the policemen had to stop there and guide pedestrians.The police were told that a small magpie had died a couple of minutes previously. One policeman, Zhao Ling，checked the dead bird's remains and found that the bird's tail feather was plucked!“It seemed that someone must have killed the bird and the rest of the birds saw the whole process and began to hate all people passing by,” Zhao hypothesized.At 11:30, when four or five magpies still flew around the tree, their cries sounded sad. At that time, a pedestrian, Mr. Sun, wanted to walk close to the tree in order to have a better look at the dead bird. However, before he could come near, three magpies began to attack him! One bird swooped down on him and pecked at his head.“These birds are so intelligent,” Mr. Sun said afterwards.At 12 o'clock, the policeman, Zhao Ling, carefully wrapped the remains of the dead bird (the other policemen had to protect him from being hurt by the other birds) and buried the remains at the foot of another tree.“If I didn't bury it, the other birds wouldn't leave at all,” Zhao said.Before he went to bury the dead bird, Zhao waved at the other birds, which were hovering around the tree seemingly reluctant to leave.