240 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 
gardener and the gamekeeper; ladies and fishing- 
tackle makers also join in the persecution of this 
bird, the one keeping the wings for ornaments for 
their hats, and the other the blue feathers of the 
same parts for flies. 
The food of the Jay is very various, and conse- 
quently M. Prevost’s list, for this one of his birds, is 
rather a long one :—“ January, grubs of cockchaffers, 
acorns and berries; February, chrysalids and 
different grains and seeds; March, grubs, insects, 
wheat and barley; April, grubs, beetles and snails; 
May, cockchaffers and locusts; June, eggs of birds, 
cockchaffers and beetles; July, young birds, flies 
and beetles; August, the same, acorns, grubs and 
dragon-flies ; September, the same and fruits ; Octo- 
ber, beetles, slugs, snails and grain; November, the 
same; December, the same, haws and hips.” 
Though not quite innocent, this list does not make 
the Jay by any means one of the most guilty of 
birds. There can be no doubt, however, that it has 
a good deal to answer for, especially in the matter of 
peas, cherries and eggs. Mice and frogs seem occa- 
sionally, by way of variety, to form part of the food 
of the Jay: for the frogs I can find no authority, 
except Meyer; he includes them in his list of this 
bird’s food. 
The nest of the Jay is usually placed in thickish 
bushes or low trees: it is made of sticks and lined 
with roots and grass. 
