BIRDS WHICH DO NOT FALL 

 INTO GROUPS. 



JAY. — Plate 119. Length, 14 inches. Body above 

 and below cinnamon, but white on the chin and 

 about the insertion of the tail ; crest whitish, streaked 

 with black ; moustache, tail, and wings black, but with 

 a brilliant patch spotted black, blue, and white at the 

 bend of the wings, and a white patch in the centre 

 of them ; bill dark. Resident. 



Eggs. — 5-6, pale gray-green, closely freckled all 

 over with pale brown, which forms a zone about the 

 larger end, a few fine, sharp black streaks occurring 

 in the zone ; 1'2 x -9 inch (plate 136). 



Nest. — Of twigs, lined with root-fibres and grass, 

 placed usually moderately high in a tree, but some- 

 times in a thick bush. 



Distribution. — Fairly general throughout England 

 and Wales, and local in Scotland and Ireland, in the 

 former as far north as Inverness-shire, and in Ireland 

 in the south and east. 



The Jay is the most brilliantly coloured of our 

 larger woodland birds, as conspicuous as a Magpie 

 when it flies to cover— a big, ruddy bird, black- 

 winged and black -tailed, with tracts of white before, 

 behind, and in the middle. The tail, though ample, 

 is shorter, and the flight therefore freer, than the 

 Magpie's ; when the bird alights the tail is shot up 



