96 BIRDS AND MAN 



This description somewhat amplified, and the 

 wording varied to suit the writer's style, has been 

 copied into most books on British birds the lamb 

 and the cat, and the kite and the horse, faithfully 

 appearing in most cases. Yet it is certain that if 

 all the writers had listened to the jay's vocal per- 

 formances for themselves, they would have given a 

 different account. It is not that Montagu was wrong : 

 he went to nature for his facts and put down what 

 he heard, or thought he heard, but the particular 

 sounds which he describes they would not have heard. 



My experience is, that the same notes and phrases 

 are not ordinarily heard in any two localities ; 

 that the bird is able to emit a great variety of 

 sounds some highly musical ; that he is also a 

 great mimic in a wild irregular way, mixing borrowed 

 notes with his own, and flinging them out anyhow, 

 so that there is no order nor harmony, and they 

 do not form a song. 



But he also has a real song, which may be heard 

 in any assembly of jays and from some male birds 

 after the congregating season is over and breeding 

 is in progress. This singing of the jay is some- 

 what of a puzzle, as it is not the same song in any 

 two places, and gives one the idea that there is 

 no inherited and no traditional song in this species, 



