THE JAY 
of these, where its handsome plumage would prove an 
additional charm. ‘The Jay is the most arboreal of the 
British Crows, and delights in woods and plantations where 
there is plenty of undergrowth. A good belt of thicket is 
absolutely essential to its needs. It is a most shy and 
seclusion-loving species, a brief glimpse of its parti- 
coloured plumage or its harsh scream of rark as it hurries 
off amongst the green branches usually being all that is 
seen or heard of it. It is the least social of the Crows, 
seldom more than a pair being seen in company, save in 
summer, when the broods and their parents keep together 
for some little time after the former have left the nest. 
It obtains most of its food upon the ground, although it 
is seldow seen there. ‘This chiefly consists of worms, 
grubs, insects, fruit, grain, peas, acorns, beech-mast and 
even small birds, chicks, and carrion. ‘The bird is partial 
to eggs, and robs many nests. A poisoned egg is one of 
the most fatal lures for this species. ‘The flight of the 
Jay is singularly drooping, the wing-beats rapid, and 
sometimes the bird descends very rapidly from a great 
height almost perpendicularly like a plummet into the 
cover below. Its note is an oft-repeated rark—rark, and 
is heard most frequently in early spring and towards 
evening, but during the breeding season the bird is 
remarkably silent. It probably pairs for life, and its eggs 
are laid in April and May. ‘The nest, placed at no great 
height from the ground in a tall evergreen or other bush, 
or in some sapling amongst the dense underwood, is a 
cup-shaped structure formed externally of twigs and a 
little mud, and copiously lined with roots. ‘The five to 
seven eggs vary from greyish green to bluish green, mottled 
and freckled all over with olive-brown, and in some cases 
sparingly scratched with dark brown. The young are 
fed and tended for some time after leaving the nest, and 
the woodlands can offer few prettier sights than a troop 
of these restless birds. 
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