324 CORVIM. 



prefers the shelter and security of thick coverts, never fre- 

 quenting the open country, and rarely seen on the ground 

 unless beneath trees or bushes, where it finds its chief 

 sustenance, which consists for the greater part of the year of 

 worms, insects and slugs, such kinds of berries or fruit as 

 are in season, and especially nuts, beech-mast and acorns. 

 These last it frequently stores in chinks of the bark of 

 trees, hides under fallen leaves, or buries in the earth, not, 

 as has often been said, in hoards, but separately, as con- 

 venience or fancy may direct. Generally shy and wary in 

 summer, tempted by cherries, strawberries, plums and pease, 

 it boldly makes inroads into our orchards and gardens, and 

 unquestionably will, if permitted, devour or carry off no small 

 portion of the crops ; but, in most cases, the plunder can 

 be prevented by nets, or where the ground is too extensive 

 for their use, the marauders can generally be kept off by a 

 few gunshots, though should they still persist in their 

 depredations the death of two or three and the exposure of 

 their bodies will effectually stop the visits of the survivors. 

 However, the most serious charge brought against the Jay 

 is that of rifling the nests of other birds, and, though the 

 extent of its egg-sucking and chick-killing propensity is 

 doubtless greatly exaggerated, its effect is to make an 

 enemy of every gamekeeper, and no mercy is shewn to the 

 race, recourse being had to any device that will lessen its 

 numbers, as the dismal array of decaying carcases that dis- 

 figures many a pleasing glade testifies. Consequently in 

 man} 7 parts of the country the Jay has been almost extir- 

 pated, and were it not for its wandering disposition and its 

 extraordinary caution during the breeding- season, it would 

 soon cease to exist in England. Noisy as is the bird in 

 autumn and winter, when spring draws on it becomes almost 

 silent, and the detection of its presence by any sound it may 

 utter is then almost impossible, so that a pair of Jays or 

 more may take up their abode even in a moderately small 

 wood or plantation without their presence being suspected 

 by any save the most attentive observer. The appearance of 

 a Fox or Cat, however, dispels this cautious behaviour and 



