244 BRITAIN^S BIRDS AND THEIR NESTS. 



artificial ' flies ' for angling purposes. The Jay is also 

 much persecuted on the same grounds as its allies, and 

 with equal justification. But like them it is a wary bird, 

 and can hold its own against all but the most systematic 

 and relentless persecution. Thus it still remains a not 

 uncommon bird of the woodland portions of England and 

 Wales. In Scotland, however, it is scarce and local, and is 

 unknown in the northern half except as a wanderer ; the 

 boundary of its range has been extended slightly north- 

 wards of late. In Ireland the Jay has a very restricted 

 distribution, nesting only in some eastern and south- 

 eastern districts. As well as being an ordinary resident in 

 England, the Jay also occurs as a migrant on the east 

 coast. Considerable ' eruptions ' are recorded now and then, 

 and some of these have been synchronous with enormous 

 exceptional migrations recorded in the same seasons from 

 Heligoland. 



The Jay is strictly a forest bird, and its hareh scream 

 may often be heard in the gloomy depths where other 

 bii'd-life is scarce. The nest may be placed in a bush, or 

 at no great height in a tree. It is a well-built structure of 

 twigs, lined with grasses or roots, and has nothing in the 

 way of a dome like the Magpie's. The five or six eggs 

 are grayish gi'een, with brownish specks or zones, and some- 

 times fine black scrollings. 



THE CHOUGH 



(Pyrrhocorax graculus). 



The Chough is a gracefully built member of the Crow 

 family, with red legs and beak, the latter longish and 

 slightly decurved. The bird is now rare owing to persecu- 

 tion and to the competition of the Jackdaw, It is a cliff- 



