194 



BRITISH BIRDS' NESTS. 



YOUNG JAYS IN NEST. 



secondaries deep black, marked with a white patch 

 on the upper half ; rump white ; tail dusky. From 

 the gape, backward and downward, runs a mous- 

 tache-like black dash ; throat 

 dirty white ; breast pale pur- 

 plish-buff ; belly, vent, and 

 under tail - coverts nearly 

 white. Legs, toes, and claws 

 brown. 



The female is very similar 

 to the male in appearance. 



Situation and Locality. In 

 a tall thick bush, hedgerow, 

 or young tree ; sometimes in 

 evergreens, such as the yew 

 and holly ; in woods and 

 plantations with a thick undergrowth. In suitable 

 localities throughout the British Isles. 



Materials. Sticks, small twigs, mud, fibrous 

 roots, and grass. Well built, as a rule, and some- 

 what like a large Blackbird's nest. 



Eggs. Five to seven. Ground-colour dusky- 

 green, tinged with blue, thickly spotted and freckled 

 with light olive-brown. The markings are generally 

 uniformly distributed, but are sometimes confluent at 

 the larger end, 

 where there 

 are occasion- 

 ally several ir- 

 regular black- 

 ish -brown 

 lines. Size 

 about 1.25 by 

 .9 in. (See 



T "\ 



.J JAY AT PHEASANTS ' DRINKING PLACE. 



