CLASS II. AVES: ORDER 2. PASSERES. 



193 



THE EUROPEAN JAY. 



THE EUROPEAN NUT-CRACKEE. (See p. 195.) 



the leaves. It is cup-shaped, formed of small sticks, and lined with finer materials, such as small 

 roots and Q;rass ; the eggs are five or six in number. It is of a lively disposition, and has a trick 

 of concealing objects and laying up stores like the magpie. It is capable of some education, and 

 has great powers of imitation. In a state of nature it has been known to mimic the voices of 

 other animals so exactly that it was difficult to believe that the creatures personated were reallv 

 absent. Montagu says, that in the spring the Jay will sometimes utter a sort of song, which he 

 describes as soft and pleasing, but into which it introduces at intervals the bleating of a lamb, the 

 mewing of a cat, the note of a kite or buzzard, the hooting of an owl, and even the neighing of a 

 horse and similar sounds. In confinement, of course, a wider field is opened for the bird's talents 

 for mimicry ; and it usually takes advantage of its position to pick up and repeat every sound 

 with which it is familiar. Thus Bewick mentions a Jay that imitated "the sound of a saw so 

 exactly that, though it was on a Sunday, we could hardly be persuaded that there was not a car- 

 penter at work in the house." Mr. Yarrell also refers to one of these birds, in the possession of 

 a surgeon in Berkshire, which, before it was twelve months old, imitated the ordinary household 

 sounds with astonishing accuracy. He would give what might be called a Poultry-yard Enter- 

 tainment^ imitating the calling of the fowls to feed, and all the noises of the fowls themselves in 

 perfection ; but the crowing of the cock was not managed so well. The barking and noises of 

 the house-dog were imitated in a style that could not be distinguished from the original. 



Among several other foreign species of Jay are the G. infaustus, somewhat smaller than the 

 preceding, found in Northern Europe ; and the G. lanccolatus and G. hispccularis, both of India. 

 In America the jays are more numerous than in the other hemisphere, though they chiefly bc- 

 i long to the warmer regions of this continent. The prevailing hues are different shades of blue, 

 I variegated with white, black, or yellow. They generally possess the characteristics of cunning 

 j and the turn for mimicry belonging to the European jay. The prominent species in the United 

 States is the Blue Jay, G. cristatun. This is eleven inches long; light purplish-blue above; be- 

 neath white, with a faint bluish tinge. It is migratory in New England, but becomes sedentary in 

 the Middle States; found from Texas to Canada. Wilson says: "This elegant bird is distin- 

 guished as a kind of beau among the feathered tenants of our woods, by the brilliancy of his 

 Vol. II.— 25 



