188 Habits of the Jay. 



who never fails to magnify a petty act of plunder into a down- 

 right commission of felony. Forgetful of the caution which 

 is its peculiar characteristic at other seasons of the year, the 

 jay becomes remarkably daring and adventurous in pea and 

 cherry time. To this unlucky yearning for the good things 

 of the garden I attribute the general scarcity of this truly 

 British bird. Even here the jay is never abundant, though a 

 safe retreat is always open to it; so that, whilst the magpie 

 is very numerous, it is comparatively a scarce bird. Two 

 or three nests, at most, are all I can annually produce. 

 These, by the way, I find are much more compact, and better 

 put together, than those which naturalists have hitherto de- 

 scribed. 



The nest of the jay is never seen near the tops of trees, 

 like those of the magpie and the crow. He who feels in- 

 clined to study the nidification of this bird must search the 

 lower branches of the oak, or inspect the woodbine mantling 

 round the hazel. In such situations he will find the nest, 

 which mostly contains six eggs ; and, if he advances with 

 " cautious step and slow," he may approach within a yard of 

 it before the sitting bird will take its flight. 



There seems to be an erroneous opinion current concern- 

 ing some birds, which are supposed to forsake their eggs if 

 they are handled, be it ever in so slight a manner. This 

 requires some explanation. If you rush up abruptly to a 

 nest, so as to terrify the old bird, you will find, with very few 

 exceptions, that it will forsake the place. If, on the contrary, 

 you approach the nest of any bird in gentleness and silence, 

 and allow the owner to slip off without being fluttered, you 

 may take the eggs out of the nest, and blow upon them, and 

 put them in your mouth if you choose, or change their 

 original position when you replace them in the nest, notwith- 

 standing which the bird will come back to them (even though 

 it be a ringdove), and continue to sit on them as attentively 

 as before. 



The jay being one of those birds which have their brilliant 

 colours prior to their first moulting, you will find the male and 

 female so much alike, that it will be no easy matter to distin- 

 guish the one from the other. 



The young of this bird are born blind : of course, the 

 parent bird never covers the eggs with any part of the mate- 

 rials which form the nest, when she has occasion to be absent. 



Here let me remark the immense difference that exists 

 betwixt a newly hatched bird with its eyes open, and one 

 newly hatched with its eyes closed. The first can walk and 

 find its food in a very short time ; the second is helpless in 



