Generally wary of people in the forest or countryside, western jackdaws are much tamer in urban areas. Like magpies, they are known to show interest in shiny objects such as jewellery. John Gay, in his "Beggar's Opera", notes that "A covetous fellow, like a jackdaw, steals what he was never made to enjoy, for the sake of hiding it". In Tobias Smollett's "The Expedition of Humphry Clinker", a scathing character assassination runs, "He is ungracious as a hog, greedy as a vulture, and thievish as a jackdaw."