6 British Birds. 



Luckily for himself, the Jay is gifted with an uncommon degree of artfulness, and its 

 presence is generally only detected by its harsh note of alarm from some thick covert. 

 It has also a strong partiality for fruit and will commit havoc in the earl\- morning on 

 rows of peas, should the kitchen-garden be in the proximity of a wood. At certain 

 times of the }-ear the Jay devours a large quantitv of grubs, and a good acorn year is 

 sure to attract a number of the birds to the oak trees. The nest is a tolerably 

 neat cup of twigs and roots, lined with finer rootlets, and the eggs, sometimes 

 as many as six in number, are olive brown or clay colour, finely dotted with 

 pale brown, so minutel}' that the eggs appear to be sometimes quite uniform in 

 colour. 



A resident species in most parts of the British Islands, but absent 



THE MAGPIE. j- . ■ . rt- ^i j j r »u ^u 



m some districts oi Scotland, and now rare in many ot the southern 



and midland counties of England, where it was formerly not uncom- 

 mon. The bright colours of the wings, the long tail, and the conspicuous white 

 shoulder-patch are features which easily distinguish the Magpie from all the other 

 British Crows, and its chattering cry is also quite different from the harsh croaking notes 

 of the other species. The generic character by which it may be told from the other 

 members of the family which are found in Great Britain is the long tail, and another 

 peculiarity is seen in the attenuated first primary-quill of the wing, which is narrowest 

 towards the end, while the quick flapping of the wings is also different from the ordinary 

 powerful flight of other Crows. The pilfering habits of the Magpie and its egg- 

 destroying propensities render it obnoxious to farmers and game-keepers, who ignore 

 the fact that it is a bird which devours a large number of injurious insects and 

 grubs. In other countries of Europe, such as Norway, for example, the bird is 

 not persecuted and becomes comparativeh' tame, three and four individuals being 

 often seen in compan}'. The nest is an artistic structure of twigs and is generally 

 domed, and the eggs are sometimes as many as seven in number, of a light greenish 

 colour, mottled or spotted with brown or greenish brown. 



This bird is easily recognised by its black plumage and bright red 

 THE CHOUGH. ^j„_ -pj^^ nostrils are difterently placed to those of the true Crows, 



( racu us being situated lower down in the bill, nearer to the cutting edge of the 



graculns.) 



mandible than to the ridge. Its former inland habitats in Great 



Britain now know the Chough no more, but it is found still on many of the rocky coasts 



of Wales and Ireland, and on some of the Western Islands of Scotland, It breeds in 



caves or in holes of cliffs, where it builds a nest of sticks and heather-stems, 



lined with wool and hair. The eggs are much lighter than those of any other 



British Crow, being nearh- white with brown spots. 



The Alpine Chousrh is distiiitruished from the Red-billed Chough 



THE ALPINE r o o 



rHnilCH ' '°'^' ''■^ shorter and yellow bill, and by having the base of the cheeks 



(Pyrrhocorax bare, and not feathered, as in the foregoing species. It is an inhabitant 



pyrrhocorax.) of the mountains of Southern Europe, whence it extends through the 



