118 tORVID.E. 



the lower branches of a large tree, if sufficiently thick with 

 leaves to afford the required concealment. The nest is cup- 

 shaped, open at the top, formed on the outside with short 

 sticks, and thickly lined with fine roots and grasses. The 

 female lays five or six eggs of a yellowish white ground-co- 

 lour, minutely and thickly speckled all over with light brown, 

 presenting the appearance of a uniform yellow-grey brown ; 

 the length one inch four lines, and one inch in breadth. 



The young birds follow their parents for several months after 

 they leave the nest, some observers say even to the pairing-time 

 of the following spring. Montagu says they are never grega- 

 rious ; but they are stated by Vieillot, and others, to perform 

 certain migrations in small flocks in the southern parts of the 

 European continent, and they have been seen, by those who 

 pay constant attention to the habits of birds, to come in the 

 winter, in small parties of from twenty to forty at a time, to 

 take up their temporary residence in thick woods on the 

 Hampshire coast, in the vicinity of Christchurch. 



Young birds are easily brought up from the nest, soon 

 become very tame, and in confinement appear to prefer meat 

 to any other description of food. Although the most com- 

 mon notes of the Jay are harsh and grating, the bird in cap- 

 tivity soon becomes an amusing pet, from the facility with 

 Avhicli it imitates the sound of the human voice, and indeed 

 almost any other sound that is to be heard sufficiently often 

 to afford the opportunity of acquiring it. Montagu says that 

 it will sometimes in the spring utter a sort of song in a soft 

 and pleasing manner, but so low as not to be heard at any 

 distance; and at intervals introduce the bleating of a lamb, the 

 mewing of a cat, the note of a kite or buzzard, the hooting of 

 an owl, and even the neighing of a horse. These imitations 

 are so exact, says Montagu, even in a natural wild state, that 

 we have frequently been deceived. Bewick says, " We have 

 heard one imitate the sound of a saw so exactly, that though 



