128 CORVHLE. 



formerly than now, because, being considered to do injury 

 to young trees, by a statute of the 17th of George the 

 Second, Grand Juries were empowered to offer threepence 

 for the head of each Jay, which reward soon had the effect 

 of thinning their number. 



In Scotland, according to Sir William Jardine, and other 

 authorities, the Jay frequents extensive old woods in the 

 cultivated districts of the southern and middle divisions. 

 It is also found in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. It is 

 distributed over the temperate portions of Europe, and is 

 found in Portugal, Spain, Provence, Italy, Sicily, Malta, 

 Barbary, and Egypt ; is common in the Morea, and in 

 some parts of Greece: according to M. Temminck, the 

 flesh of the Jay is constantly eaten. 



The beak is black ; the irides pale blue ; from the base 

 of the lower mandible on each side there is a mustache-like 

 spot of velvet black an inch long; forehead and crown 

 greyish white, the feathers elongated, forming a crest, 

 which the bird elevates at pleasure ; these long feathers 

 have each a streak of black in the centre, in the line of 

 the shaft, the ends of the long feathers on the occiput 

 tinged with purplish red; the nape, scapulars, and back, 

 cinnamon colour ; wing-coverts barred with black, white 

 and pale blue, alternately, across the outer web ; the inner 

 web nearly uniform black ; the primaries dusky black, with 

 dull white external edges; the secondaries velvet black, 

 each with a well-defined elongated patch of pure white 

 on the basal half of the outer web ; some of the tertials 

 velvet black, indistinctly barred transversely with blue and 

 black at the base of the outer web ; the last tertials of 

 a rich chestnut colour, particularly on the inner web ; 

 rump and upper tail-coverts pure white ; tail-feathers dull 

 black, indistinctly barred at the base ; the outer tail- 

 feather on each side the lightest in colour, approaching to 



