50 OUR RARER BRITISH BREEDING BIRDS. 



partial, holly bushes, fruit trees, and the horizontal 

 branches of oaks and similar situations, in which 

 to build its nest, in plantations, orchards, and on 

 wooded commons. 



Its nest is rather large and slovenly in con- 

 struction on the outside, but more neatly put 

 together in the interior. It is made of twigs, 

 roots, and bits of grass mixed with lichens, lined 

 with finer roots, grass, and hair inside. 



The eggs, numbering from four to six, can 

 hardly be confused with those of any other species, 

 on account of their size and coloration, which 

 varies from olive green to pale reddish brown in 

 ground colour, spotted with blackish brown and 

 streaked with dusky grey. 



JAY. 



THE Jay is as interesting as it is beautiful, and 

 recognised as easily when seen on the wing, by its 

 weak undulatory flight, as when unseen by its 

 harsh note, which sounds something like rake 

 rake. I must admit, however, to being thoroughly 

 deceived by the latter some time ago. I was 

 absolutely certain that I heard a Jay's note in a 

 copse running parallel with a railway line, and, 

 creeping up very cautiously to see if I could dis- 

 cover the exact whereabouts ol the bird, was 

 amused to find that I had been cheated by the 

 remarkably imitative sounds produced by a plate- 

 layer pitching gravel with a steel shovel. 



The bird is not, so far as my experience goes, 

 common anywhere except in Devon and parts of 

 Essex, within such reasonable distance of Epping 



