254 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[Nov. 1, 1SG9. 



habits, and the nature of his food, he differs 

 remarkably from all his sable friends, and that the 

 generic name Garrulus, which Brisson, in 1700, 

 proposed for the Jays, was not only deservedly but 

 very appropriately applied. 



Our British Jay has been called glandar'ms from 

 his partiality for acorns, beech-mast, and other 

 forest fruits ; but he is in fact omnivorous ; for in 

 addition to the food already named, he takes 

 grubs, worms, mice, eggs, and young birds, and be- 

 comes remarkably bold in the autumn in robbing 

 orchards of cherries and damsons. He has a 

 curious habit of hoarding up food for future occa- 

 sion, and has frequently been detected on a visit to 

 a large store of acorns. The Jay evinces a great 

 partiality for oak-woods : we have always noticed 

 the species more frequently where oaks abound — no 

 doubt on account of the sustenance and shelter 

 which these trees afford. 



The nest is generally placed in the fork of a tree, 

 and usually at no great height from the ground. 

 As schoolboys we always considered a Jay's nest a 

 great prize ; and when fortunate enough to find one 

 with five or six eggs, we only parted with one of them 

 for a good "exchange." Caliban evidently con- 

 sidered a Jay's nest an irresistible temptation when 

 trying to induce Trinculo to explore his island. 



" I'll show thee every fertile inch o' the island, 



* * * * * * 



I'll show thee the best springs ; I'll pluck thee berries ; 

 I'll fish for thee, and get thee wood enough ; 

 ****** 

 Show thee a Jai/'s nest, and instruct thee how 

 To snare the nimble marmozet." 



1'he Tempest, Act ii., Scene 2. 



The egg is a very plain one for the bird which 

 lays it; the ground-colour white, so closely freckled 

 over with grey or yellowish-brown as to give it the 

 appearance at a little distance of being uniformly 

 grey or brown. Not unfrequeutly there are three 

 or four hair-lines of a blackish colour at the larger 

 end. 



When the young are able to fly, instead of leaving 

 the place of their birth and shifting for themselves, 

 as the young of many birds do, they remain a long- 

 time with their parents, going about the woods in 

 little family parties with much chattering and 

 screaming. 



The Jay is wonderfully inquisitive, and, although 

 shy enough if he catches sight of you, he may 

 nevertheless be decoyed within thirty or forty 

 yards, if you remain concealed. We have seen a 

 Trench gamekeeper bring a Jay within shot by 

 imitating the squeal of a young rabbit; but we could 

 never get very near to one of these birds by trying 

 to "stalk" him. The sense of hearing in the Jay 

 is so acute that, even when he cannot see you, the 

 cracking of a twig under foot is often sufficient to 

 alarm him, and away he goes with a chatter, as it 

 seems, of derision. Keepers generally find the trap 



more effective than the gun if they want to destroy 

 a Jay. 



If taken young and well trained, this bird makes 

 a most amusing pet, not only from his curious ac- 

 tious, but from his great powers of mimicry. He 

 will learn to whistle, and imitate a cat, dog, or hen 

 to great perfection. In some parts of Sussex we 

 have often noticed tame Jays at the cottage-doors, 

 and we have wondered why a bird of such attractive 

 plumage and such engaging manners is not more 

 generally sought after. 



If, instead of being killed by shot or trap, Jays 

 were taken alive, the object of the game-preserver 

 would be accomplished, the keeper would be re- 

 warded, the bird-fancier delighted, and the life of 

 a beautiful bird would be spared. 



J. E. Hauting. 



PTERODACTYLES. 



A MONG the many formidable monsters of the 

 -*"*- old world, with which palaeontology has made 

 us familiar, I think the palm for singularity of con- 

 formation and hidcousness of aspect must be ceded 

 to the Winged Lizard, known to us as the Ptero- 

 dactyle. Many strange forms has the old world seen, 

 and many there have been whose remains testify 

 that they were of larger bulk and huger proportions 

 than this Saurian: the Megatherium, the Dino- 

 therium, the Mastodon, were great unwieldy beasts, 

 and doubtless they would have been "awkward 

 customers " if met with in a narrow lane, had 

 narrow lanes and their makers been in existence ; 

 perhaps the latter were. Qiden sabe ? But after all, 

 independently of their being vegetable-feeders, these 

 enormous creatures were but gigantic specimens of 

 what we are used to see nowadays. The Mammoth 

 was but an overgrown elephant, the Megalonyx an 

 enlarged sloth, the Cheirotherium. a frog puffed up 

 to ox size, anticipating the fable. But, for some 

 occult reason, the moment Saurians come on the 

 tapis we recognize nothing " lizardy " about them, 

 such as lizards arc in these days. Those that " were 

 made to take their pastime" in the waters were 

 weird and unearthly to the last degree, with their 

 supernaturally long necks and great goggle eyes. 

 And as for those on the land, whose debris are ever 

 and anon turned up, they were more like the 

 mythical dragon than respectable Lacertce. Imagine, 

 a crocodile's head with its formidable rows of strong 

 pointed teeth (fig. 226) elevated on a long neck, and 

 attached to a body which combined great strength 

 with the faculty of walking or flying at the will of 

 the owner. Verily, Pterodactyle must have been a 

 scourge and a terror to its lesser compatriots ! 



The twenty-two species of which we are cognisant 

 varied greatly in size : while some skeletons which 

 have comedown to us are scarcely larger than those 

 of a sparrow, there are others which' must have 



