Birds. 515 



nion exercised as before. I once observed a pair of crows 

 using the materials of the nest of a former year, in constructing 

 a new one; and it struck me as a specimen of much fore- 

 thought, for there certainly must remain a considerable por- 

 tion of the old nest perfectly efficient for the construction of 

 the new, and in thus using those materials much extra-labour 

 must evidently be spared. — C Conway, Pontnewydd WorJcSf 

 near Newport, Monmouthshire, Jan, 20, 1834. [In IV. 412. 

 the notion that every robin has a distinct range of pasture is 

 expressed. In VII. 245. is an instance, in the redstart, of 

 a parent, widowed one day, having a second partner the next. 

 Do not rooks, every spring, in building their nests, use part of 

 the materials of the old nests ?] 



A tame Jackdaw so attached to its Protector as to accompany 

 him wherever he may go, — Six weeks or two months ago I at- 

 tended a coursing meeting, composed, altogether, of at least 

 two hundred persons, where I was very much struck with a 

 tame jackdaw that kept flying one minute close over our heads, 

 the next perching on some bush or tree not ten yards off, and 

 every now and then fearlessly lighting on the ground in the 

 midst of the crowd of footmen and horsemen. Upon enquiry, 

 I found that Jack belonged to a poor boy, six or seven years 

 old, who had come to see the coursing, and who, wherever 

 he went, was constantly accompanied by his faithful follower. 

 Let him wander from home as far as he might. Jack never 

 failed to attend him ; perpetually hovering about and repeating 

 his cry of affectionate glee. Others might approach him, but 

 he would suffer none to touch him, save his master only.— 

 Tiro. March 6. 1834. [^Post mark, Wrexham,"] 



The Song of the Jay described, — Jays are, unfortunately for 

 our pea-growers, numerous in this neighbourhood. I had 

 never, however, heard a jay sing until last April (1833), and 

 had become rather inclined to doubt Montagu's statement 

 regarding its singing. On April 19., I took a walk to the 

 mountain side, and, passing through one of our shadowy over- 

 hung mountain lanes, in search of mosses, it led me through 

 a small wood far away from human intrusion. Here my at- 

 tention was arrested by a rustling in the wood, accompanied 

 by a great clatter, and occasionally interspersed with more 

 sonorous tones. Directing my attention closely to the part 

 of the wood whence the sounds came, I at last descried a jay 

 in continued action, fluttering and shuffling, and leaping from 

 spray to spray in continued motion, and in uninterrupted 

 song. My presence, at first, disturbed the bird, but it soon 

 got the better of its timidity, and again fell to singing. It 

 mocked the greenfinch most inimitably, and it was a consi- 



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