JAY. 155 



JAY. 



Garrulus glandarius. 



This very gaily dressed bird is still fairly abundant in 

 most of our woods and copses_, and is rightly \idiXaeA garrulus , 

 as its whereabouts is constantly proclaimed by its squalling 

 and harsh cries, at all times of the year, except in the breed- 

 ing season, when it is so silent that, unless from occasionally 

 seeing the old bird, no one would suppose there was a Jay in 

 the neighbourhood. Of this^. I can give a notable instance : 

 I was sitting on a seat in my own garden, under a very thick 

 evergreen oak, a conspicuous object from my window, when, 

 to my surprise, I heard the cry of a young Jay overhead, 

 and, on looking up, there was the nest, though I had not 

 seen or heard the parents about the premises. 



This is the only one of the Corvidce which attempts a 

 song, and a strange medley it is, of an inward chattering and 

 gurgling warble, mingled Avith an occasional imitation of 

 the notes of various other birds, and perhaps, now and then 

 the mew of a cat, or bark of a dog. During the utterance of 

 these notes, it is usually concealed among the thick foliage. 

 It builds an open nest, about 15 feet from the ground, on 

 the top of the trunk of a tree, in the underwood of a coppice, 

 or in a thick bush, on a considerable platform of sticks, and 

 lines it very neatly with fine roots. 



I have several times shot this bird with a mouse in its 

 bill, and two or three times with a young Partridge in the 

 down, and once an old Tree-Pipit. As this last was in May, 

 it had probably captured it while sitting on its nest. It is 

 fond o£ maize and fruit, and, if it has a chance, does great 

 damage amongst the peas in the gardens. It is also a great 

 devourer of eggs, and is constantly caught by the keepers, by 



