THE C0J/J/0A" JAY. 



15 



it exhibits those beautiful blue and black banded feathers in the wing which have caused it 

 to be considered one of the handsomest of British birds. It is indeed a great pity that such a 

 beautiful species should bear such a bad character, and, what is worse, should so well deserve 

 it. On account of its propensity for taking the eggs of game-birds, the keeper's hand is turned 

 ruthlessly against it, and the gibbet in the preserves often shows the mouldering remains of a 

 bright-plumaged Jay, who has atoned for his offences along with the Weasels and Stoats. Ac- 

 cording to Macgillivray: it feeds on fruit, and is particularly fond of beans and peas, but it also 

 feeds on worms, larvae, and snails, plunders the nests of small birds, and pounces 011 mice and 

 sometimes small birds. We can ourselves vouch for its partiality to peas, for some of the earliest 

 specimens of our acquaintance were shot in the grey dawn of the morning from a kitchen garden 



A 



COMMON JAY. 



which was regularly visited by Jays for the purpose of attacking the rows of peas. This they did 

 with great avidity, the crops of those examined being perfectly distended with the peas they had 

 eaten. 



The Jay is a favourite cage-bird, and becomes a very amusing pet; it is an excellent mimic, 

 and has been said to imitate such sounds as the neighing of a horse, the sound of a saw, the calling 

 of fowls, the barking of dogs, and other noises, with the greatest exactness. It is about thirteen, 

 inches in length, of a vinous red colour, becoming pale grey on the back ; the rump and upper tail- 

 coverts pure white ; the tail black, washed with grey near the base, and having slight indications of 

 bluish-grey bars ; the wing-coverts are light grey, inclining to chestnut on the median series ; the 

 bastard wing and primary coverts barred with black and bright cobalt blue, as also are the outer 

 greater coverts, the inner ones of the last series being black ; ouills black, the primaries washed with 

 ashy grey, the secondaries shaded with cobalt near the shaft, and white for more than half of the outer 

 web; the inner secondaries black, the innermost deep chestnut, tipped with black; the head is crested, 

 the forehead being white, streaked with black ; on the cheeks a broad band of black ; the under 



