THE JAY. 187 



soon as they are able to provide for themselves ; 

 but the jay and its family associate during all the 

 autumn and winter months, taking great delight in 

 each other's company, and only separate to become 

 founders of new establishments. We see them in 

 winter under the shelter of tall hedges, or on the 

 sunny sides of woods and copses, seeking amid the 

 dry leaves for acorns, or the crab, to pick out the 

 seeds, or for the worms and grubs hidden under 

 cowdung ; feeding in perfect silence, yet so timid 

 and watchful, that they seldom permit the sports- 

 man to approach them. When disturbed, they 

 take shelter in the depth of the thicket, calling to 

 each other with a harsh and loud voice, that re- 

 sounds through the covert. The Welsh call this 

 creature (t screch y coed," the screamer of the 

 wood. The jay is a very heavy, inelegant bird, 

 Its general plumage is sober and plain, though its 

 fine browns harmoniously blend with each other : 

 but the beautiful blue-barred feathers, that form 

 the greater coverts of the wings, distinguish it from 

 every other bird, and, in the days when feather- 

 work was in favour with our fair countrywomen, 

 were in such request, that every gamekeeper, and 

 schoolboy brother with his Christmas gun, perse- 

 cuted -the poor jay through all his retirements, to 

 obtain his wings. 



The great shrike, or butcher-bird (lanius excu- 

 bitor), is not uncommon with us, and breeds annu- 

 ally near my dwelling. It is one of our late birds 

 of passage, but its arrival is soon made known to 



