C O R V U S. 



conjointly, or alternately, beginning in February, and 

 usually continuing their labours for six weeks or two 

 months. It is, for the most part, constructed on a 

 fork, or on a junction of branches, and composed of 

 twigs, young shoots of trees, and a thick covering of 

 leaves, strengthened outwardly with long and flexible 

 sticks, plastered over with mud, the upper part being 

 covered with thorny branches, closely matted, so as 

 to secure a retreat from other birds intruding, a hole 

 being left at the side scarcely large enough for the 

 admission and egress of the parent birds. The inside 

 is furnished with a sort of mattress, composed of the 

 fibres of roots, wool, and other soft materials, being 

 only six inches in diameter, whereas the whole edifice 

 measures at least two feet in every direction. Should 

 the eggs be destroyed, the female abandons a con- 

 struction which had cost her and her partner so much 

 trouble, and will lay a second, and even sometimes a 

 third time, if again disturbed, the number of eggs 

 diminishing at each hatch. On these occasions she 

 does not build a new nest, but takes possession of, 

 and refits, an unoccupied one that has belonged to a 

 rook, or else finishes one of those imperfect structures 

 which are occasionally to be found in her neighbour- 

 hood, as if purposely reserved fur cases of emergency. 

 But, if unmolested, there is but one brood, which 

 generally consists of seven or eight. The eggs are of 

 a bluish or pale green, spotted with brown, and 

 cinereous. The male and female incubate alternately, 

 and in the course of about fourteen days the young 

 are brought forth blind, and continue so for some 

 days. The parents rear them with great solicitude, 

 and for a considerable length of time. During winter 

 nights, magpies assemble in great numbers in some 

 coppice or thicket to roost, but they separate again 

 in the day-time. When the young are taken from the 

 nest for training, they may be red with bread, curdled 

 milk, or new cheese. Their flesh is considerably 

 inferior to that of the young rook. In almost every 

 country, the appearance of the magpie is, in the 

 minds of the vulgar, associated with superstitious and 

 ominous notions. 



The prying, pilfering-, and nest-plundering propen- 

 sities of the magpie, sometimes subject it to a little 

 temporary inconvenience at tiie hand? of boys, 

 especially where it has young in a thick tree near 

 the house. An egg is emptied of its contents by 

 blowing, and then filled with bird-lime, and laid in 

 some place where it may be seen by the mag-pie ; and 

 as li Madge" has all her eyes about her, and knows 

 most of what is within the range of her observation, 

 the exposure of the egg out of doors is as easy a 

 matter as the concealing of it. She soon approaches, 

 watchful of any one who may be observing her, but 

 intent upon the egg. After a hop or two in various 

 directions, to see that all is safe, she dashes her bill 

 into the egg, in the usual way of carrying the 

 larger kinds of eirsrs to her brood ; but as the shell is 

 already broken, the bill penetrates up to the eyes, 

 and the shell adheres, and acts as a blind. She takes 

 flight, however ; but, as she cannot see her way, she 

 iiie> bumping against the twigs, and often cuts a very- 

 ridiculous tig-ure before she can so disentangle herself 

 from the shell and the bird-lime as to be able to see 

 her way. 



When magpies are holding those councils, or 

 " folkmotes," for which they are so remarkable, a 

 scene of great consternation ensues among them it 

 one of the more powerful hawks come in sight, or if 



a falcon is flown over them. All chattering and hop- 

 ping is instantly at an end, unless there are bushes into 

 which they can creep ; and when they are within 

 reach of no such shelter, they remain motionless on 

 the ground ; though, in places where large hawks 

 frequently appear, they select their rendezvous in 

 some spot which is closely surrounded by broom or 

 furze, or some othercover. As long as the hawk or 

 falcon remains in sight, the whole powers of the mag- 

 pies seem to be absorbed in the dread of it; for they 

 may be knocked down with a stick with little attempt 

 to escape, or taken with the hand without offering 

 any resistance. But we must close our notice, for 

 there is really no end of the stories that might be 

 told of this very curious bird. 



Corvus glandariiis (the Jay). In some rospects the 

 jay stands nearly in the same relation to the magpie 

 that the carrion crow does to the rook. It is a wood- 

 land bird, never found in open and treeless places, 

 and very seldom near houses. In the woods it 

 chooses the thickest shades ; and though its chatter 

 is often heard, it is less frequently seen than almost 

 any other bird of the same size and equally numerous. 

 It occurs in all parts of the British islands where 

 there is cover for it, and it has an original name both 

 in Welsh and Gaelic, both of which have the same 

 meaning, " wood-screecher," or " wood-screamer;" 

 and some systematists have made it the type of a 

 separate genus, under the name Garrulus. 



The jay varies a good deal in size with the nature 

 of its haunts, being much smaller in Scotland than in 

 England. Its mean dimensions may be taken at 

 about a foot in length, eighteen or nineteen inches in 

 the stretch of the wings, and about seven or eight 

 ounces in weight. 



The bill of the jay is' dusky, the legs brown, and 

 the hides of a glistening pearl grey, which gives a 

 sharp and irritable expression to the eye. The head 

 is whitish, with black streaks, and the "feathers on the 

 top of the head are loose, and form a crest which is 

 erectible at pleasure. The body is wine buff, or a 

 mixtuie of yellow, red, and brown, so melted into 

 each other, that the whole effect is not easily 

 described. The lesser coverts of the wings are pale 

 bay ; the greater coverts are marked with traces of 

 black and rich blue. The secondary quills next the 

 body are bay, with black tips, the next two are 

 entirely black, and the remaining ones are black, 

 tinged with blue, and having white on their outer 

 necks, near the base. The rump and tail coverts, 

 both upper and under, are white, and the tail 

 feathers black. These birds, though they keep in 

 the cover of the woods, are very active and very 

 voracious. They are omnivorous, consuming great 

 quantities of nuts, mast, wild cherries, peas, and 

 other products of the wood and its vicinity ; they are 

 also great robbers of the nests of smaller birds, and 

 they sometimes kill and eat the birds themselves, and 

 also mice, and the larger insects. They are in fact 

 always prying about in the warm season, and very 

 often eating. It is usually said that they are in the 

 habit of hoarding their vegetable food against the 

 season of want ; and it may be true, for there are a 

 good many more birds which form magazines than we 

 are usually in the habit of giving credit for being so 

 provident. But, in the case of the jay, this is not 

 easily established by actual observation, as it is by no 

 means easy to see what they do ; and though they 

 are found making free with a store, it cannot, on 



