Magpies have been attacked for their role as predators, which includes eating other birds' eggs and their young. However, one study has disputed the view that they affect total song-bird populations, finding "no evidence of any effects of predator species on songbird population growth rates. We therefore had no indication that predators had a general effect on songbird population growth rates". Another study has claimed that songbird populations increased in places where magpie populations were high and that they do not have a negative impact on the total song-bird population.