JAY. 

 Case 108. 



This sprightly bird is fast disappearing from 

 our woods and thickets. An egg being a bait it 

 can never resist, it speedily falls a victim to the 

 watchful gamekeeper. 



Many writers lament the scarcity of this and 

 numerous other handsome though destructive birds, 

 forgetting that the increase of their favourites 

 signifies a corresponding diminution of all species 

 of game. 



The specimens in the case were shot near 

 Plumpton in Sussex in February, 1870. 



MAGPIE. 

 Case 109. 



Through becoming scarcer every year, like the 

 Jay, the Magpie is still sufficiently common to be 

 well known in most parts of the British Islands. 



During winter it occasionally joins in large 

 flocks. I have more than once met with as many 

 as thirty or forty in company in the neighbourhood 

 of Doncaster in Yorkshire. 



It is generally a shy wary bird, always appear- 

 ing conscious that its bad deeds will gain it but 

 little favour in the sight of man. 



I have however in some districts in the north, 

 and again in the west, found it remarkably confiding, 

 even nesting in trees within a few yards of a 

 dwelling. 



The specimens in the case were shot on the 

 downs in the neighbourhood of Brighton in the 

 spring of 1872. 



