JAY. 61 



and crevices which abound among craggy rocks and precipices 

 that rise high above steep wooded banks. Besides, they build 

 in ruinous buildings, hi church towers or pigeon-houses, in little- 

 used chimneys, in holes in modern masonary, even in deserted 

 thambers. I'he pile of materials amassed is simply wonderful, 

 and really they are SOUK Hmes so laid together as if intended to serve 

 no other purpose but to lengthen out the nest-pile for a builder's 

 amusement. Sticks and wool are the substances usually employed, 

 and the eggs laid vary, as to number, between three and six. 

 They are of a pale bluish-white, well spotted with ash colour, 

 light brown and dark brown. F4g. 7, plate V. 



122. MAGPIE (Pica caudata). 



Pyet, Pianet, Madge, Mag. A very wary, crafty, shy bird the 

 wild Magpie is. A very bold, impudent, thievish rascal the 

 domesticated Mag as certainly proves himself. Shy and wary as 

 these birds are in a state of nature, no bird whatever seems to affect 

 concealment less in the fashion and structure and position of its 

 nest. Placed high up among the smaller branches of a talHsh 

 tree, or perhaps in the upper part of a strong, thick, high bush in 

 a hedge or standing lonely in a field or park, nothing can well be 

 more conspicuous than the massy Magpie's nest, with its large 

 though light dome of thorny sticks and twigs. I used to Be 

 assured as a school boy that there were two sorts or varieties of 

 Magpies, distinguished by the comparative length of their tails 

 and the site of their nests : the alleged short-tailed one was called 

 the Bush Magpie ; the other the Tree Magpie. It is almost idle 

 to say no such variety or distinction really exists. The materials 

 of the nest are chiefly sticks, plastered with earth inside, and lined 

 with roots and hair. There are often as many as six or seven 

 eggs laid in it, pale bluish-white in colour, spotted all over, and 

 abundantly so in general, with grey and greenish brown of more 

 than one snade. Fig. 8, plate V. 



123. JAY ( Garrulus glandarius) . 



Jay-pie, Jay-piet. The Jay's peculiar screeching note is 

 perhaps more familiar to many ears than the bird itself to the 

 eyes corresponding to the said ears. It is a shy bird, seldom 

 seen far from its haunts in woods and copses, though when seen, 

 it is noticeable enough from a certain peculiarity in its flight, due 

 to a sort of fluttering use or motion of its wings. It is easily 

 domesticated, and becomes a tame and amusing pet. The nest is 

 very often extremely rude and inartificial, almost as much so as the 

 Ring Dove's. It is placed in the upper part of a lofty bush in a 

 wood, or on some one of the lateral branches of a tree where the 

 height from the ground is considerable ; is made of sticks, and 



