98 THE JAI 



appearance of any thing that is dangerous, or even strange in their 

 haunts, is peculiarly harsh ; but they have a love-note in the early 

 part of the season, which is not only soft, but so low, and appa- 

 rently cautious, that it seems whispering to their mates, as if to 

 hide their affections and their labours from the other tenants of the 

 grove. Even there they are very imitative, and though they do not 

 attempt the songs of the warblers, they are very adroit at bleating, 

 screaming, neighing, and, in short, imitating all the harsher sounds. 

 What purpose these may answer, whether to scare or invite, or 

 mislead other birds, is not known. The soft note is, in the 

 warmer parts of the country, often heard again toward the latter 

 parts of the season, because there the Jays have often two broods 

 in the year ; and it seems to be in such places only that the family 

 keep together during winter. 



" The first incubation is toward the end of May, the nest being 

 begun about the first of that month. It is better built than that 

 of the Eook, but less carefully lined than the Crow's, or generally 

 than the Magpie's, and it has no walls or roof like the latter. 

 The platform is of sticks, and the immediate receptacle for the 

 eggs, which is shallow, is of grass and roots. The eggs are about 

 the same in number as those of the Magpie ; the incubation lasts 

 about two weeks, and the young acquire their plumage in July. 



" The Jay is, for its size, remarkable for the rapacity of its appe- 

 tite, and the wideness of its Bwallow, and eats acorns, nuts, and 

 chestnuts entire ; but there are other substances of which it makes 

 more of a bonne bouche. It is very partial to the flowers of the 

 cruciferae, which it pulls slowly and carefully, petal by petal. It 

 is a restless and inquisitive bird, and sometimes gets itself torn 

 or jammed between branched in its ramblings. When nests, and 

 fruits on and under the trees fail it, it hunts among the fallen 

 leaves, and often plunders the .hoards of small quadrupeds ; but 

 as it does not come far from the woods, even in the coldest 

 weather, it must be subject to many casualties, which accounts for 

 the limited numbers compared with the fecundity of the birds." 



The Jay is widely distributed over the temperate portions of 

 Europe, and is found in Spain, Provence, Italy, Malta, Barbary, 

 and Egypt ; it is also common in the Morea, and in some parts 

 of Greece. Its flesh, according to TEMMINCZ, is frequently 

 eaten. By a statute of 17th of George the Second, grand juries 

 were empowered to offer threepence for the head of each Jay, 

 because these birds were thought to do great injury to young 

 trees, and this reward for its destruction had the effect of thin- 

 ning the numbers considerably in this country. The harsh note 

 of the bird lias ever been one of its distinguisning characteristics. 

 GISBORNE, in his Walks in a Forest, says 



