THE JAY. BIRDS. THE BLUE JAY. 



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THE JAY (Garrulus glandarius). This handsome 

 bird, which is abundant in the wooded districts of 

 Europe, measures nearly fourteen inches in length, and 

 is of a general reddish-brown colour, paler oeneath ; 

 the crown of the head is adorned with a small erectile 

 crest, of which each feather is streaked with black ; 

 on each side of the chin is a moustache-like black 

 streak ; the quill feathers of the wings are black, with 

 the outer webs of the primaries dusky-white, and a 

 pure white spot near the base of the secondaries ; the 

 primary wing-coverts are barred with black, white, 

 and bright blue; and the tail feathers are black. 

 Fig. 113. 



The Jay is well known in England and the southern 

 parts of Scotland, inhabiting the thick woods, and 

 building its nest either in a tall bush or amongst the 

 lower branches of a tree, but always in a situation 

 which affords it a safe concealment. The nest is cup- 

 shaped, and composed externally of small sticks and 

 twigs, lined with roots and grasses. The eggs, which 



Fig. 113. 



The Jay (Garrulus glandarius). 



are five or six in number, are of a yellowish-brown 

 colour, minutely speckled with light brown. The 

 young birds are said to accompany their parents for 

 several months. 



The food of the Jay consists partly of insects and 

 worms, and partly of vegetable matters, especially 

 acorns and beech mast, its predilection for which is 

 alluded to in its specific name. Occasionally, during 

 the summer, this bird lays aside a certain portion of its 

 natural shyness, and ventures into the gardens to feast 

 upon peas and ripe cherries, a habit which causes the 

 VOL. I. 



gardener to regard him as an enemy, and destroy him 

 with as little compassion as the gamekeeper, who con- 

 siders him as a destroyer of eggs and young birds. 

 The general note of the Jay is harsh and grating, but 

 Montagu says that in the spring he will utter a soft 

 and pleasing song, and in captivity there is scarcely 

 any sound that he will not learn to imitate ; the cries 

 of fowls, ^the bleating of a lamb, the mewing of a cat, 

 the barking of a dog, the neighing of a horse, and even 

 the articulate sounds of the human voice are repro- 

 duced by him with the greatest exactness. Bewick 

 mentions his having heard one imitate the sound of 

 a saw so exactly, that though it was on a Sunday, 

 people could hardly be persuaded that there was not 

 a carpenter at work in the house. 



THE BLUE JAY (Cyanurus cristatus). This bird, 

 which is an inhabitant of most parts of North America, 

 is more elegant in its form than the preceding species, 

 which it resembles in its general habits, and in its live- 

 liness and imitative talents. Its plumage is light 

 purplish blue above, and white beneath; 

 the head is adorned with a handsome crest 

 of blue feathers, and the neck with a cres 

 cent-shaped black mark; the wings are 

 blue, as are also the feathers of the long 

 wedge-shaped tail; the wing-primaries, and 

 tail feathers being elegantly marked with 

 transverse black bands, and tipped with 

 white. The whole length of the bird is 

 about eleven inches. The Blue Jay is an 

 inhabitant of the woods and forests, amongst 

 which his singular and varied notes are 

 constantly heard during the spring season. 

 His favourite diet consists of chestnuts, 

 acorns, and Indian corn ; but he also visits 

 the gardens occasionally in search of fruit, 

 and frequently picks up insects or cater- 

 pillars upon the branches of the trees. Some- 

 times he indulges his taste for animal food 

 in a less innocent fashion, plundering the 

 nests of his fellow-inhabitants of the woods, 

 destroying their eggs, and tearing in pieces 

 and devouring their helpless young. At 

 the same time he exhibits a hypocritical 

 enmity to the smaller hawks and owls, 

 especially the latter, leading on the small 

 birds to attack these enemies of their race 

 with the greatest spirit and perseverance. 

 The nest of this bird is placed in a tree, 

 composed of twigs, and lined with dry root 

 fibres. The eggs are five in number and 

 of a dull olive colour, spotted with brown. 

 THE RAVEN (CorvitA cor ax). Of the British species 

 of this family, the Raven is the largest and most 

 powerful, the adult male measuring about twenty inches 

 in length. It has a long and strong bill of a black 

 colour, and the feathers springing from the base of the 

 upper mandible and covering the nostrils are about an 

 inch and a half long. The whole of the plumage is 

 black, with a purple or bluish gloss; the irides are 

 brown and grey, and the feet black. This bird is 

 found in all parts of the northern hemisphere, extending 

 its range even into the frozen regions of the Arctic 



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