jay. 325 



produces for a time a scolding outcry the meaning of which 

 is unmistakable to those who are alive to country- sounds. 



The Jay seldom builds its nest above twenty feet from the 

 ground, preferring tall coppice or a bush in a high hedge- 

 row, while occasionally one of the lower branches of a large 

 tree, if sufficiently leafy to afford concealment will be chosen. 

 The nest is cup- shaped, open at the top, consisting of a large 

 platform of short sticks and twigs, thickly lined with fine 

 roots very neatly interwoven and sometimes intermixed with 

 a few grasses.* Towards the end of March or early in April 

 the hen lays from four to seven eggs of a greenish-white, so 

 closely minutely and thickly freckled all over as to seem 

 suffused with light olive, and almost presenting the appear- 

 ance of gigantic eggs of the Sedge-Warbler ; but the markings 

 are sometimes gathered into a zone. They measure from 

 1-33 to 1-16 by from -95 to -85 in. 



The young follow their parents for some weeks after 

 leaving the nest, but subsequently their practice varies 

 greatly in different localities, depending doubtless on the 

 supply of food obtainable. In certain districts the family 

 party will keep together for the greater part of the winter, 

 but most generally the young seem to quit the place of their 

 birth, and to form small bands which wander to and fro 

 throughout the autumn and winter. In the fall of the year 

 this country, and especially its eastern parts, is commonly 

 visited by a large number of Jays which have probably been 

 bred abroad, and from them our stock is very likely replen- 

 ished. Sheppard and Whitear have recorded an observation 

 of the arrival at this season near the coast of Suffolk of a 

 flight of Jays, consisting of some thousands, but the incident 

 on so large a scale must be regarded as out of the common way. 

 Brought up from the nest, Jays soon become very tame 

 and are amusing captives, thriving best on a mixed diet, 

 though preferring animal food. In addition to their natural 

 harsh screech, which, so " discordant, heard alone," always 

 brings pleasure to the ear of a true naturalist, they speedily 

 learn many other notes, and indeed there is scarcely any 

 * The nest has been found ia the hole of a tree (Journ. l'. Gin. 1861, p. 470.) 



