98 



HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



which only puts the poor animal to pain, with- 

 out improving its speech in the smallest de- 

 gree. Its speaking is sometimes very dis- 

 tinct ; but its sounds are too thin and sharp to 

 be an exact imitation of the human voice 

 which the hoarse raven and parrot can coun- 

 terfeit more exactly. 



To this tribe we may refer the jay, which 

 is one of the most beautiful of the British 

 birds. The forehead is white, streaked with 



black ; the head is covered with very long 

 feathers, which it can erect into a crest at 

 pleasure ; the whole neck, back, breast, and 

 belly, are of a faint purple, dashed with gray ; 

 the wings are most beautifully barred with a 

 lovely blue, black, and white ; the tail is 

 black, and the feet of a pale brown. Like 

 the magpie, it feeds upon fruits, will kill 

 small birds, and is extremely docile. 1 



1 The Jays differ from the pies principally in the bill, 

 which is more hooked, and in having some long loose 

 feathers on the crown of the head, which are erected 

 when the birds are excited; the tail, moreover, in these 

 birds, is longer and more graduated. They may almost 

 be said to be omnivorous, living in general in the woods, 

 but occasionally resorting to gardens and cultivated 

 lands, to both of which they are injurious and destruc- 

 tive, as well by what they eat at the time, as by what 

 they carry off to increase their hidden stores. In sum- 

 mer they live in pairs, but in the opposite season assem- 

 ble in small groups. They advance on the ground al- 

 ways by leaps, and seldom or never walk. In disposi- 

 tion they are very irascible, petulant, and inquisitive, 

 and take their scientific generic name, garrulus, from 

 their constant loquacity. The nest is built in trees, ge- 

 nerally at about half-way from the bottom, of sticks, in- 

 terlaced together on the outside, cased within with mud, 

 and lined with dry grass and fibres: the entrance to it is 

 at the side. The eggs are white, spotted with brown 

 and gray, and are from six to eight in number. 



The common jay does not seem to be very generally 

 or exclusively located, and is partially migratory from 

 the west and northern parts of Europe to the south-east, 

 as the islands of the Grecian Archipelago, and also 

 Egypt, Syria, &c. Though many are thus said to mi- 

 grate, it is nevertheless clear that some continue in our 

 own country and in France the whole year. 



The Red-Billed Jay is a very splendid bird. The 

 bill and feet are red ; the neck and breast are black; the 

 crown of the head dotted black and white ; body, above 

 and beneath, ashen; of the tail feathers, the two interme- 

 diate are much the longest, and the lateral feathers are 

 graduated ; they are blue, tipt with white, and a black 

 bar between that colour and the blue. Inhabits China, 

 and is frequently rendered very tame and amusing. Of 



The Chatterer also, which is a native of 

 Germany, may be placed in this rank ; and is 

 somewhat less than the former. It is varie- 

 gated with a beautiful mixture of colours ; red, 



the Blue Jay, an inhabitant of North America, (See 

 Plate XV. fig. 8.) Wilson has given the following inter- 

 esting account. 



" The blue jay is an almost universal inhabitant of the 

 woods, frequenting the thickest settlements as well as 

 the deepest recesses of the forest, where his squalling voice 

 often alarms the deer, to the disappointment and morti- 

 fication of the hunter, one of whom informed me that 

 he made it a point, in summer, to kill every jay he 

 could meet with. In the charming season of spring, 

 when every thicket pours forth harmony, the part per- 

 formed by the jay always catches the ear. He appears 

 to be among his fellow musicians what the trumpeter is 

 in a band, some of his notes having no distant resem- 

 blance to the tones of that instrument. These he 

 has the faculty of changing through a great variety of 

 modulations, according to the particular humour he hap- 

 pens to be in. When disposed for ridicule, there is 

 scarce a bird whose peculiarities of song he cannot tune 

 his notes to. When engaged in the blandishments of 

 love, they resemble the soft chatterings of a duck, and, 

 while he nestles among the thick branches of the cedar, 

 are scarce heard at a few paces distance: but he no sooner 

 discovers your approach than he sets up a vehement 

 outcry, flying off, and screaming with all his might, as 

 if he called the whole feathered tribe of the neighbour- 

 hood to witness some outrageous usage he had received. 

 When he hops undisturbed among the high branches of 

 the oak and hickory, they become soft and musical; and 

 his calls for the female a stranger would mistake for the 

 repeated screakings of an ungreased wheel-barrow. All 

 these he accompanies with various nods, and jerks, and 

 other gesticulations, for which the whole tribe of jays are 

 so remarkable, that, with some other peculiarities, they 

 might have very well justified the great Swedish natu- 

 ralist in forming them into a separate genus by them - 

 selves. 



"The blue jay builds a large nest, frequently in the 

 cedar, sometimes 011 an apple-tree, lines it with dry fib- 

 rous roots, and lays five eggs, of a dull olive, spotted 

 with brown. The male is particularly careful of not 

 being heard near the place, making his visits as silently 

 and secretly as possible. His favourite food is chestnuts, 

 acorns, and Indian corn. He occasionally feeds on 

 bugs and caterpillars, and sometimes pays a plundering 

 visit to the orchard, cherry rows, and potato patch; and 

 has been known, in times of scarcity, to venture into the 

 barn, through openings between the weather boards. In 

 these cases he is extremely active and silent, and, if sur- 

 prised in the act, makes his escape with precipitation, 

 but without noise, as if conscious of his criminality. 



" Of all birds he is the most bitter enemy to the owl. 

 No sooner has he discovered the retreat of one of these, 

 than he summons the whole feathered fraternity to his 

 assistance, who surround the glimmering solitaire, and 

 attack him from all sides, raising such a shout as may 

 t>e heard, in a still day, more than half a mile off. 

 When, in my hunting excursions, I have passed near 

 ibis scene of tumult, I have imagined to myself that I 

 heard the insulting party venting their respective 

 charges with all the virulence of a Billingsgate mob; the 

 owl, meanwhile, returning every compliment with a 

 )road oggling stare. The war becomes louder and louder, 

 and the owl at length, forced to betake himself to flight, 

 s followed by his whole train of persecutors, until driven 

 )eyond the boundaries of their jurisdiction. 



' But the blue jay himself is not guiltless of similar 

 depredations with the owl, and becomes in his turn the 



