The Crow Tribe. 39 



The sportsman and the gardener alike detest it, be- 

 cause its harsh scream of warning often prevents the 

 former from approaching his game, and its fondness 

 for fruit and vegetables makes it very destructive 

 amongst gardens and cherry orchards. It devours 

 chestnuts, beech-nuts, and acorns, and the flowers of 

 some cruciferous plants. It will eat small quadrupeds, 

 birds, and insects, and is especially fond of eggs. It is 

 a very beautiful bird, about the size of a large pigeon, 

 of a bright reddish-brown, with blue wings barred with 

 black and edged with white ; and a crest decorates its 

 head, the feathers of which it raises and lowers at 

 pleasure. It is a favourite cage bird in many parts of 

 England, and its great powers of imitation make it an 

 amusing pet. The young Jays should be taken from 

 the nest when a fortnight old, and fed six times in the 

 day with sopped bread, curds, and finely-chopped beef. 

 They must be kept out of hearing of other birds, or 

 they will catch their notes : they are very quick in 

 imitating the voices of animals and any noises they 

 hear. Even in a wild state they will introduce into 

 their soft and pleasing song the bleating of a lamb, 

 the mewing of a cat, the hooting of an owl, and the 

 neighing of a horse. Bewick tells of a Jay who imi- 

 tated the sound of a saw so exactly that the neigh- 

 bours supposed a carpenter was at work all Sunday. 

 Another Jay used to amuse himself by setting the dog 

 at the cattle by whistling and calling him byname; a 



