240 The Scottish Naturalist. 



Selkirkshire remembers having trapped one thirty-five years ago, 

 but there is no record of any having been seen since that time. 



Peebles. — The Jay is, and has for some time been, very 

 rare in this county. 



In the New Statistical Account a of the united parishes of 

 Broughton, Glenholm, and Kilbucho the Jay is mentioned as 

 "seldom seen," and the same remark may be made of it at the 

 present time throughout the county. Mr. Small, of George 

 Street, Edinburgh, has occasionally but rarely had Jays sent in 

 from Peebleshire. 



Berwickshire. — At one time the Jay may have been common 

 in Berwickshire, for in the New Statistical Account of the united 

 parishes of Cockburnspath and Old Cambus it is mentioned 

 that " In Penmanshiel Wood, Jays build in considerable 

 numbers." 



At the present time, however, it is very rare all over the 

 county. The only recent record of the Jay I can find is in Mr. 

 A. Kelly's notes on the birds of Lauderdale t> where he mentions 

 two having been shot in a wood in that district — one in 1874, 

 and the other some years previously. 



From the foregoing notes it will be seen that only in a very 

 few counties can the Jay be now called plentiful; while in others, 

 where at one time it was well known, it is rarely or never seen. 

 In one thing correspondents seem to agree, that the cause of 

 its decrease is the continual persecution by gamekeepers. Were 

 it left undisturbed it would be certain to increase and distribute 

 itself over the country — as it is doing in a few places where not 

 killed down : the many young oak and fir woods yearly 

 springing up, forming the very kind of shelter in which the Jay 

 delights to nest. It is much to be regretted that this, one of 

 the most lovely of our few bright coloured birds, should be 

 driven from our land. But we cannot blame any one for not 

 preserving them as they are a thieving race, whether they are 

 found digging up, and eating the gardener's peas, breaking the 

 carefully watched eggs in a pheasant covert, or clearing small 

 birds' nests of their young. 



a New Statistical Account of Scotland, pub. 1845. 



b Proceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club, 1875, p. 304. 



