148 BRITISH BIRDS, WITH THEIR NESTS AND EGGS. 



rapid beatings of the wings. The Jay's peculiar flight is seen to the greatest per- 

 fection when the bird is flying in the open ; for in the thick cover they appear to 

 scurry off amongst the branches, anxious to conceal themselves as soon as possible. 

 In spring the Jay may sometimes be observed to fly at a considerable elevation 

 above its native woods, and, suddenly closing its wings to shoot downwards like 

 an arrow into the cover below. Although capable of long-sustained flight, in this 

 country it rarely flies far, preferring to go from tree to tree or to pursue its way 

 through the tangled undergrowth. When perched in a tree the Jay sits well upright, 

 its tail sometimes wafted to and fro, its head constantly turned from side to side, 

 and its crest erected or depressed, its restless actions showing its wariness and 

 timidity at being so far from cover. When thus perched the Jay can sometimes be 

 approached very closely ; and it is a noteworthy fact, that singularly beautiful and 

 conspicuous as the bird's plumage is, it is rarely seen until its harsh note proclaims 

 its departure to a safer retreat." 



If not aware of the vicinity of man, however, the Jay is by no means so shy, 

 his curiosity soon gets the better of his nervousness and he comes into the open 

 to investigate the cause of every sound ; yet he is ever on the alert and the least 

 sudden movement sends him back instantly to cover. 



The nest of the Jay is believed to be rarely built at a great height from the 

 ground, of those which I found the highest elevation was about sixteen feet, in 

 the branches of a sapling too slender to support the weight of a man, so that I 

 and my companion were compelled to draw it gradually down until I was able to lift 

 out the nest from its cradle of twigs. My first nest was in a plantation of ash- 

 trees and so near the ground that I was able to lift it down without climbing, it 

 contained a full clutch of six eggs, and I had no sooner taken it than both 

 parents, who where close by, made the whole neighbourhood ring with their harsh 

 screams of rage ; I caught a glimpse of one of them, but only for a moment, it 

 had not sufficient courage to come close. 



The nest is frequently placed in hawthorn, sloe, hazel, fir, yew, or holly, and 

 is very compact and strongly built, though externally it has a ragged appearance, 

 being constructed of interlaced sticks and twigs, which become denser and are 

 moulded into a neat cup-shape in the centre : the lining consists of rootlets or 

 grasses and horsehair. The eggs number from five to seven and, excepting that 

 their average size is larger, much resemble one of the less typical varieties of the 

 Blackbird's egg : in ground colour they are pale green, so densely mottled with 

 lighter or darker clay-colour that their general tone is either pale olivaceous stone- 

 colour, or pale clay-colour ; at the larger extremity which is usually slightly deeper 

 in tint, there is very frequently an irregular black line, like a crack : sometimes 



