JAY. 



GARRULUS GLAND ARIUS {Linn.). 



Corvus glandarius, Zmw. S. N. i. p. 156 (1766); Naum. ii. 



p. 122. 

 Garrulus glandariuSj Macg. i. p. 576 ; Hewitson, i. p. 237 ; 



Yarr. ed. 4, ii. p. 323; Dresser, iv. p. 481. 



Geai ordinaire, French ; Eichel-Heher, German ; Arren- 

 dajo, Gayo, Spanish. 



This beautiful bird is tolerably common in the wood- 

 lands of England, less so in Scotland, and somewhat 

 rare and very local in Ireland. Very large numbers of 

 Jays occasionally visit this country in late autumn and 

 winter from the continent, but such visits are very 

 irregular in their occurrence, and I am not acquainted 

 with any evidence in favour of a return migration. 



The Jay is a most crafty and wary bird, and though 

 sufficiently noisy and conspicuous in autumn and winter, 

 in the breeding- season it is almost mute and very 

 cautious about showing itself. The nest is generally 

 well concealed; the eggs, generally five or six, are laid 

 in April, and many young Jays are flying before the end 

 of May. Our bird is almost omnivorous, but I like him 

 so well that I will leave the record of his offences to 

 other writers. No British bird of my acquaintance is so 

 imitative of sounds of all sorts as the Jay, and often I 

 have been entirely deluded and misled by one of these 

 wily and most amusing impostors. 



A very large number of Jays breed in the district of 

 Northamptonshire with which I am best acquainted, 

 but whenever we have an abundant crop of acorns or 

 beech-mast, we are visited by flocks of foreign-bred birds 

 of this species in October and November. 



