304 THE GUN: AFIELD AND AFLOAT 



instance, is the rook that can boast of such record as that 

 pheasant which after shooting was found to have stowed 

 away in his crop no less than 1200 wire-worms? 



THE MAGPIE, Pica caudala, notwithstanding ceaseless 

 persecution, still contrives to hold its own fairly well in 

 some districts. It is sad to reflect that birds and 

 quadrupeds so handsome of form or plumage, and so 

 interesting in habit, should have developed tastes so 

 entirely antagonistic to the interests of mankind. Yet, 

 so it is, and magpie and jay, marten and stoat, along 

 with other beautiful and extremely interesting creatures, 

 having earned for themselves the ignominious title 

 "vermin" by ceaselessly preying upon the food of 

 man, now require to have a check placed upon their 

 depredations. 



THE JACKDAW, Corvus monedula. Although not so 

 strictly a field and woodland resident as the rest of his 

 genus, he preferring to haunt church towers, old ruins, 

 and the chimneys of high buildings in great measure, 

 Master Jack sometimes requires to be looked after pretty 

 closely, as undoubtedly he will pilfer the eggs of the 

 game-birds given the opportunity. 



THE JAY, Garrulus glandarius. This handsome and 

 interesting bird is perhaps scarcely so destructive as the 

 magpie. It is, however, justly accused of killing young 

 partridges and pheasants and of sucking eggs. It must, 

 in consequence, be kept well under by gamekeepers. 

 To this end shooting and various forms of trapping com- 

 mend themselves. The jay is scarcely likely to suffer 

 extermination in England yet awhile by reason of the 

 influx of continental birds in the autumn, some of 

 which migrant birds, it is probable, remain here in the 

 spring for nesting. 



