228 RURAL BIRD LIFE. 



The Mag^ple's notes are given forth in numbers at a time, 

 something similar to a harsh and discordant chatter, 

 while that of the Jay is one loud and dissonant scream. 



A pleasing sight it is to see a troop of rollicking Jays 

 — the young fed and tended, by the way, for a considerable 

 time after leaving the nest — and their parents, late in the 

 summer. But though young, they are the very essence 

 of wariness, and it is only now and then that we catch a 

 glimpse of them through the thick masses of foliage, our 

 eyes being drawn in the direction by the harsh scream as 

 if of defiance and mockery with which they scurry off. 

 And then how their beautiful plumage shines in the bright 

 summer sunlight ! A handsome bird is the Jay, and 

 one whose presence goes far to enliven and heighten 

 the beauty of our English woods. Should the reader 

 ever have the good fortune to so come upon a troop of 

 Jays, he will probably notice that the birds, instead of 

 darting off in all directions, like many birds would cer- 

 tainly do under similar circumstances, invariably fly 

 before him in a straight line. He may thus follow them 

 the whole length of their cover, and it is only when thus 

 absolutely compelled, they turn again to find seclusion. 

 In July the birds are moulting, and then they appear 

 but as a fragment of their former beauty ; but in a few 

 short weeks Nature has again supplied them with a new 

 garment, and they again appear in all the splendour 

 of their rich and varied plumage. The flight of the 

 Jay is a peculiarly drooping one, performed with rapid 

 motions of the pinions. Sometimes we see these birds 

 coursing through the air at a very high elevation, and 

 then, suddenly closing the wings, shoot downward with 

 the rapidity of an arrow into the desired cover. Jays 

 become very noisy at nightfall. Let the observer repair 

 to their haunts at eventide, and their notes, if he be not 



