38 FAMILIAR WILD BIRDS. 



obviously afford. This peculiarity is more noticeable in 

 the Jay, inasmuch as its food is of a more vegetable charac- 

 ter than the rest of the decidedly pronounced Corvidse 

 family. 



The home of the Jay is generally pitched in woods, or 

 in plantations known locally as copses, shaws, or spinneys, 

 and from these vantage-grounds this bird lays all the 

 surrounding country under tribute. The food includes, 

 besides insects and worms, the eggs and young of 

 small birds, fruit, such as cherries, peas, and such like 

 vegetables, anything in the shape of corn or grain : 

 indeed, keepers of preserves have to be especially watchful 

 to see that the Indian corn and other food placed for the 

 game is not eaten by the Jays in the neighbourhood. 



Doubtless the Jay has his good qualities, and possibly, 

 did he not eat the insects they would demolish more than 

 he does ; but the gun of the gamekeeper and trap of the 

 husbandman are still as much directed against the Jay as 

 against the Magpie. 



Unlike that bird, the Jay builds an open nest without 

 the dome-like protection, and much resembling a very 

 large Blackbird's nest. The structure is generally hidden 

 amongst the leaves in a thick tree or bush, and composed 

 externally of short sticks and twigs, Imed with fine roots 

 and grasses. The eggs are usually five or six in number, 

 of a yellowish- white ground colour, though this colour is 

 somewhat obscured by a multitude of greenish-brown spots, 

 that materially alters the general appearance of the egg, 

 which is also streaked with several lines of black around 

 the larger end. 



Jays have usually but one nest in the year, and, like 

 Magpies, the young birds congregate around the district in 



