322 



PERCHING BIRDS. 



jays crowding together in the most sheltered part of a tree, to obtain protec- 

 tion from the wind. If the tree or bush be small, and the best space limited, it 

 may happen that some of the birds will perch on the back of their fellows, and 

 thus form a regular pyramid. Like most gregarious pies and jays, when the 

 flock is on the move, one bird flies off first, followed soon by another, and then 

 by a third, till the whole party is on the wing. As a rule, the nest is built in a 

 tall and thorny tree, and though it is strongly constructed, so coarsely made is it, 



URRACA jay (f uat. size). 



that the eggs can always be seen from below, and sometimes actually fall through 

 the chinks. With a blue ground-colour, and a chalky incrustation, the eggs are 

 generally six or seven in number, although upwards of fourteen have been taken 

 from a single nest. 



The Grey Distinguished by the arched form of the short bill, which 



strutMdea. Gould regarded as specially adapted to enable the bird to feed upon 



the seeds extracted from the cones of a tree found only in the district which it 



