THE JAY. 187 



East Lothian, where I spent my boyhood. Not more than thirty 

 years ago a worthy Dunbar bailie, whose residence was about two 

 miles distant from the town, was in the habit of turning back if 

 he happened to encounter a pair of Magpies on his way either to 

 administer justice or attend divine service ! 



Varieties of this bird sometimes occur. A very curious instance 

 is mentioned by Macgillivray in his British Birds (vol. i., p. 568), 

 of a specimen having almost the entire plumage, legs and feet, 

 reddish brown. I have myself seen cream-coloured specimens shot 

 in Argyleshire. 



THE JAY. 



OARRULUS GLANDARIUS. 

 Scriachag-choille. 



THE very questionable reputation of the handsome Jay has 

 doubtless been the means of thinning its numbers in our wooded 

 preserves. In some districts it is now rare through the persecu- 

 tion of gamekeepers; but in others it appears to maintain its ground 

 in spite of all attempts to destroy it. The Dumbartonshire woods, 

 especially those in the neighbourhood of Loch Lomond, still give 

 shelter to limited numbers; and in many parts of Argyle and 

 Inverness- shires the species is still a conspicuous ornament. I 

 have seen it in pairs in the higher reaches of Shemore glen, Loch 

 Lomond- side, frequenting a thin clump of trees on the hilly slope, 

 about a thousand feet above the sea level. 



Mr William Hamilton has informed me that this bird is com- 

 mon in the woods of upper Loch Fyne; and the Rev. Alexander 

 Stewart of Ballachulish has sent me word that it has, of recent 

 years, become rather common in the district of Lochaber, Inver- 

 ness-shire. " Ten or twelve years ago," writes Mr Stewart, " there 

 was not a Jay in this part of the country, but within the last three 

 years they have been seen occasionally about Nether Lochaber, 

 and north, as far as Glengarry, along the woods skirting the Cale- 

 donian Canal, and about Lochiel's seat of Achnacarry." According 

 to Mr Shearer (see Proc. Royal Physical Soc. of Edin., vol. ii., p. 

 338), it is found even in Caithness. The species appears to have 

 occurred but once in Shetland. 



Being of more retired habits than its congener the magpie, the 



