242 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



white ; secondaries black, glossed with blue on the 

 inner web, and on the outer web also for about an 

 inch at the tip ; the rest of the outer web is white ; 

 tertials black, glossed with blue, except a few nearest 

 to the body, which are a rich chesnut; rump and 

 tail-coverts white ; tail black, the lower part of the 

 two central feathers is rather indistinctly barred with 

 blue ; a black moustache extends from the base of 

 the beak under the .eye towards the neck on each 

 side ; throat dirty white ; breast and belly nearly the 

 same as the back, but rather lighter; under tail- 

 coverts and thighs nearly white ; legs, toes and claws 

 pale brown. 



The egg of the Jay is a dull- coloured egg, very 

 thick and round at the broader end : the ground 

 colour is a pale dull green, which is very thickly 

 speckled with pale brown. 



NUTCRACKER, Nucifraga caryocatactes. I include 

 this extremely rare bird in the Somersetshire list on 

 the authority of Montagu, who gives the following 

 account of one having been seen near Bridgwater : 

 " Mr. Anstice assures us he saw one of this 

 rare species near Bridgwater, upon a Scotch fir, in 

 the autumn of 1805. This accurate observer of 

 Nature could not be deceived, as he examined the 

 bird and attended to its actions for some time with 

 the aid of a pocket telescope."* Since this, two 



* Montagu's Dictionary, by Newman. 



