66 BIRDS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 



the consequence beincr that it has been ahnost everywhere 

 exterminated, or so reduced in numbers as to call forth an 

 exclamation of wonder when one is accidently seen. 



It is about the size of the jackdaw, and, like that bird, 

 has a handsome crest, which it raises and depresses at 

 pleasure. It is white, with a reddish shade, and has a 

 number of narrow black lines running; tluou£rh it. The 

 head, neck, and back are reddish gre^', the rump white, 

 and the tail blackish grey. A long, black line runs back- 

 wards from the bill, and looks like a moustache ; the chin 

 and upper throat are white ; the breast and belly pale 

 reddish grey ; the vent and under tail coverts white. The 

 wings are blackish grey, but the outer web of the primaries 

 is white, so is the centre of the first four secondaries ; but 

 the "thumb" and the first wing coverts are blue, barred 

 with black : the bill is blackish grey, and the legs and feet 

 yellowish grey with a red tinge. 



In the female the crest is less conspicuous, and the red of 

 her back and breast is greyer than happens in the male. 



The flight of the jay, saj's Morris, is very observable, as 

 heavy and irregular, etiected with some degree of apparent 

 difficulty, and in a scurrying sort of manner, as if conscious 

 that it was a proscribed bird, and doomed to destruction 

 for real or supposed faults ; it is a series of (\uick beats, 

 with occasional short cessations. They seldom settle on 

 the ground ; they glide cleverly through woods and thickets, 

 and keep flitting along hedge sides ; to which we add, 

 screaming loudly as the}' go. 



The nest is placed in various situations, but, where such 

 a site is available, among the thick young growth of a tree 

 that has been lopped during the previous j'ear, though it is 

 sometimes found in an old hedge or a thick bush, but 

 always where there is plenty of cover. It is built of sticks, 

 lined with fibre, roots, grass, horse-hair, and other materials 



