4 Birds I Have Kept. 



was called in the house, but was, on the whole, rather glad 

 when it disappeared, asking no questions about it, for it was 

 not by any means an interesting, or prepossessing-looking bird, 

 but was noisy and dirty, and not particularly tame. 



So much by way of preface about Corvus glandarius, le geaij 

 called Hoheher by Bechstein, which is nevertheless a really 

 nice bird, easily kept, teachable and amusing ; it is an excellent 

 mimic, if not much of a linguist; and may, with a little 

 trouble, be taught to go out and return at the word of com- 

 mand. 



The Jay is about the size of a small pigeon, and is one of 

 the handsomest of our English birds. Purplish grey is the 

 predominant colour of its plumage, which is soft and silky; 

 the throat and rump are white, and the eyes reddish blue; 

 the large wing coverts have the outer side of the feathers 

 ornamented with narrow but deeply tinted alternate bands of 

 bluish white, light blue, and bluish black, which melt one 

 into the other, and are a great set-off to the bird, which has 

 the power of raising the head feathers into a crest, which 

 adds considerably to the attractiveness of its appearance. The 

 female bears a general resemblance to her mate, but the red- 

 dish or purplish grey of her throat is fainter than his. 



The Jay is naturally a shy, wood-loving bird, feeding on 

 insects, berries, acorns, etc., and now and then taking a fancy 

 to a nestful of eggs or young birds. In the house it may be 

 kept in a large roomy cage, or allowed to roam about the 

 garden with one wing cut. It is no favourite with gardeners, 

 owing to the havoc it makes among stone fruit and peas, and 

 in their anger at the bird's depredations, they are apt to lose 

 sight of the benefits really conferred on them by the destruction 

 of grubs and insects of all kinds, to which the Jay is very 

 partial: so they call it ''vermin", and use all the means in 

 their power to exterminate the race, which has, of late years, 

 become greatly reduced in numbers in this country. 



The Jay is fond of building its nest of sticks, lined with 



