28 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



Description. — Like Britisli Jay, but greyer, not so pink, lower- 

 mantle, scapulars, and back ; rather paler breast and flanks ; 

 streaking of crown very variable, even more so than in rufitergum. 

 Comparison of skins necessary for certain identificatioii. Indis- 

 tinguishable in the field. 



Measurements. — ^ wdng 178-187 mm., tail 140-152, tarsus 

 39-44, bill from skull 28-39 (12 measured). ? wing 174-195. 

 Averaging perhaps a little larger than British Jay. 



Breeding-habits. — Nest. — ^In hazel-saplings, conifers, or decid- 

 uous trees at from 5-20 ft. (occasionally much higher) from ground 

 in \\'oods. Built of sticks and twigs and a little earth, thick 

 internal layer of fine black roots, not unlike Bullfinch's but of 

 course much larger. £^ggs. — 5-7 but 8 to 10 recorded ; ground- 

 colour sage-green or olive-buff, finely mottled slightly darker 

 olive spots, and generally black hair-line at big end. Varieties 

 with green ground and few markings also occur. Average of 100 

 eggs, 3r6 X 23 mm. Breeding-season. — Begins late April or early 

 May. Incubation. — ^Lasts 16-17 days (Naumann), 14 (Dettmers). 

 One brood, but second layings may be found till late June. 



Food. — Young birds of many species, eggs, mice, small frogs, 

 insects and their larvae, worms, green peas ; and in autumn, 

 acorns, nuts, beech-mast, grain, and potatoes. 



Distribution. — Great Britain. — Migrant. Jays arriving on east 

 coast England in autumn have fairly often been recorded (c/. 

 Saunders, p. 235 ; Birds Yorks., i, pp. 226-7 ; Hist. Birds Kent, 

 p. 196, etc.), but no specimens of immigrants had been examined 

 until recorded by N. F. Ticehurst, Kent and Sussex, Sept, and 

 Oct., 1910 (Brit. B., tv, p. 213). More records of Continental 

 Jays based on examination of specimens are required. 



Distribution. — Abroad. — Europe generally, but represented by 

 different forms in Spain, some Mediterranean islands, south-east 

 Russia, Turkey, north-west Africa, and parts of Asia. 



10 Garrulus glandarius rufitergum Hart. — THE BRITISH 

 JAY. 



Gabrulus glandarius rufitergum Hartert, Vog. pal. Fauna, i, p. 30 

 (1903 — " Grossbritannien xind Irland." Typical locality, Tring. Irish 

 specimens not examined at the time) ; id., Brit. B., i, p. 209. 

 Garrulus glandarius (Linnaeus), Yarrell, ii, p. 323 (part) ; Saunders, 

 p. 235 (part). 



British Jay (Garrulus g. rufitergum). 



