1919.] the Jayk of Holland. 637 



which were shot at the end of April. In these birds the 

 backs are "light brownish drab" (Ridgway), though slightly 

 washed or tinged with reddish vinous. 



The four Swedish birds have all dark undersides, and on 

 three of them I find an indistinct blackish shade on the 

 throat. They differ a little inter se in the colouring of the 

 back, but all of them are much darker than my British 

 specimens. One of the Swedish birds is the exact counter- 

 part of the beautiful grey bird shot by myself and mentioned 

 above. 



So, to my mind, it may be taken as proved that in the 

 autumn, British as well as north-eastern Jays migrate to 

 Holland; but which is the breeding-form in our country ? 

 I myself possess only two young birds of the year, collected 

 by myself in July and August, and these are, so far as can 

 be seen in such immature specimens, decidedly red-backs. 

 I examined a few old Jays in rather worn plumage shot by 

 a friend of mine in the breeding-season. They too resemble 

 much more the English than the Swedish bii'ds, but they 

 are too few in number to judge about the l)reeding-form 

 generally. I suspect that very likely an intermediate form 

 between G. <j. ylandar'ms and G. ;/. rufiteryum may ulti- 

 mately be shown to breed in Holland. In order to decide 

 this, however, more summer material must be forthcoming. 



Heavily-striped heads no more than sparsely-striped ones 

 are signs of maturity or youth. I have found both in very 

 young birds of the year, and the black stripes vary indi- 

 vidually. The same seems to be the case with the transverse 

 bands on the basal part of the tail-feathers. 1 have in 

 my possession birds with entirely black tails, others with 

 a grey shade on the basal part nearest tlie body, and others 

 again with more or less distinct greyish-blue transverse 

 bands. Not two of my birds are alike in this respect. 

 These bluish bars sometimes even extend over the greater 

 part of the tail, leaving only a broad terminal band black. 

 My two young birds of the year show the bars quite 

 distinctly. 



It is, of course, a well-known fact that the intensity of 



