120 IN THE GREEN LEAF 



ing so as to defy detection is useful at 

 times. 



Alarm guns, in the covers at night, may go 

 off with a bang they do at times ; but by day 

 the jays do duty. No schoolboys ever shouted 

 at any object of their dislike with greater 

 vigour than do these birds at any intruder in 

 their domains. Badger, fox, polecat, stoat, 

 weazel, or a strayed ferret all serve to excite 

 their squawkings. 



Just for the sake of experiment, try to slip 

 into a covert for a dozen yards without being 

 noticed, and you will hear nothing but squawk- 

 squawk-squawk. The birds slip round you in 

 all directions without your seeing a single one. 

 Directly a keeper hears the real alarm-notes of 

 a jay, he knows that some kind of mischief is 

 afoot. The now rarely-heard, fussy, chiding 

 chatter of the magpie tells the same tale. 



We are told that he kills lots of things, and so 

 he does, and some, too, that can be well spared. 

 He steals fruit, and devours marrow-fats ; but 

 so do hawfinches. He also steals eggs, taps 

 them, eats the contents, and leaves the shells 

 rather a black record all this ; but as crows, 

 rooks, and the jackdaws, not to mention stoats, 

 weazels, hedgehogs, and rats, all do the same 



