256 JAYS AND MAGPIES. 



North America are of various sorts, entirely differ- 

 ing from our English Jays in parts, or the whole of 

 their plumage; arid yet in their manners scarcely a 

 difference is observable. We have before remarked, 

 that these and some other birds will just keep out 

 of the range of gun-shot, as if they had learned, 

 either from experience, or by some unknown mode 

 of communication from their older companions, that 

 provided they never allowed a shooter to come within 

 a given distance, they were quite safe. But the 

 American Jays we are speaking of, have no such 

 knowledge, founded upon experience, as is fully 

 proved by the account of an English officer*, who 

 was travelling in a very wild unfrequented part of 

 North America, where no gunners had ever gone 

 before him, and no Jay could therefore have ever 

 learned the proper distance to keep, in order to en- 

 sure its safety. Yet there they were, exactly like 

 our common English Jays, shy and cautious, as if 

 they had been hunted by sportsmen every day of 

 their lives, keeping at a certain distance, with that 

 occasional clatter and chattering so well known to 

 those who have patiently and perseveringly pursued 

 from copse to copse, or tree to tree, a disturbed 

 party of these cunning birds. 



At the same time, certain birds of similar habits 

 will naturally, under peculiar circumstances, act very 

 differently; we have an instance of this, in the 

 singular departure of the Magpie from its usual 

 custom of building its nest. Everybody knows 

 that where trees abound, that which is loftiest, or 

 most difficult of access, is chosen; but in parts 



* Captain Sir Francis Head. 



