BIKI)^. 1G7 



To tliis tribe we may refer tlie j:iy, which ii. one of the most 

 beautiful of the 15riti>.l» birds. The forehead is white, streaked 

 with black ; the head is covered with very long feathers, which 

 it can erect into a crest at pleasure ; the whole neck, back, 

 breast, and belly, are of a faint purple, dashed with grey; the 

 wings are most beautifully barred with a lovely blue, black, atid 

 white; the tail is black, and the feet of a pale brown. Like 

 the magpie, it feeds upon fruits, will kill small birds, and is ex- 

 tremely docile. * 



tection for the innocent sufferer. This ceremony is still eommemoratcci, 

 and is called "the mass of the magpie." A popular ilraina, failed " J he 

 Mai<i and Magpie," is founded on this incident. 



In most countries the magpie is esteemed a bird of omen. In various 

 parts of Scotland and the north of England, if one of these birds is observed 

 flymg by itself, it is accounted by the vulgar a sign of ill luck ; if there are 

 two together, they forebode something fortunate ; three indicate a funeral, 

 and four a «-edding. 



* The i^(7t/« differ from the pies principally in the bill, which is more hooked, 

 nnd in having some long loose feathers on the crown of the head, which are 

 erected when the birds are e.Ncited ; the tail, moreover, in these birds, is 

 longer and more graduated. They may almost be said to be omnivorous, 

 living in general in the woods, but occasionally resorting to gardens and 

 cultivated lands, to both of which they are injurious and destructive, a* 

 well by what they eat at the time, as by what they carry off to increase 

 their hidden stores. In summer they live in pairs, but in the opposite season 

 assemble in small groups They advance on the ground always by leaps, 

 and seldom or never walk. In disposition they are very irascible, petiJant, 

 and inquisitive, and take their scientific generic name, garrulu.i, from their 

 constant loquacity. The nest is built in trees, generally at about half-way 

 from the bottom, of sticks, interlaced together on the outside, cased within 

 with mud, and lined with dry gra*s and fibres : the entrance to it is at the 

 side. The eggs are white, spotted with brown and grey, and are from six 

 to eight in number. 



The common jay does not seem to be very generally or exclusively located, 

 and is partially migratory from the west and northern parts of Europe to the 

 south east, as the islands of the Grecian Archipelago, and also Egypt, Syria, 

 &c. Though many are thus said to migrate, it is nevertheless clear that 

 iome continue in our own country and in France the whole year. 



The Red-Billed Jai/ is a very splendid bird. The bill and feet are red ; the 

 neck and breast are black ; the crown of the head dotted black and white j 

 body, above and beneath, ashen ; of the tail feathers, the two intermediate 

 are much the longest, and the lateral feathers are graduated ; they arc 

 blue, tipt with white, and a black bar bet\A'een that colour and the blue. 

 Inhabits China, and is frequently rendered very tame and amusing. Of the 

 Bltte Jay, an inhabitant of North America, Wilson has given the following 

 interesting acc<mnt. 



" The blue jay is an almost universal inhabitant of the woods, frequenting 

 the thickest settlements as well as the deepest recesses of the forest, whete 



