339 



THE JAY. 



Garrulus glandarius, Linn, (sp.) 



Can only now be claimed as an indigenous bird by dis- 

 tricts in the southern half of Ireland. 



Smith, in Ins History of the county of Waterford (1745), states 

 that " the jay is pretty common in our woods," and in his His- 

 tory of Cork, enumerates it among the birds of that county. Dr. 

 Burkitt now considers the species as not uncommon in the wooded 

 districts of the former, as about Curraghmore, &c. ; and Mr. E. 

 Ball views it as rare in the latter county; in the summer of 

 1837, he saw young birds which were taken from a nest near 

 Youghal. In 1839, I was informed that the jay, owing to its 

 being protected, had of late years become common in Lord 

 Bandon's park (Cork). One only has been heard of by Mr. E. 

 Chute as seen in Kerry : — in the demesne of Dromore. " The 

 jays must be indigenous about Clonmel, the oldest inhabitants 

 remember them to be much more plentiful than they now are : 

 they still breed in the adjacent woods, but were formerly to be 

 seen close to the town."* " In Eehill wood, county of Tipperary, 

 they have been considered indigenous, for two or three generations 

 back, at least." t In some parts of Kilkenny, Queen's county, 

 and Kildare, they are to be found. About Portarliugton, they 

 are particularly numerous, and to go out there for a day's jay 

 shooting is not an uncommon practice. About Portumna, they 

 are said to be met with, but not frequently. In Eutty's 

 Natural History of Dublin, the jay appears as one of the birds of 

 that county, which it still frequents. J 



I am not aware of the existence of this bird either now, or for 

 a long time past, in the north of the island, although there are 

 many districts apparently well suited to its abode, and every year 

 becoming more so from the increasing age of well-grown timber. 

 Dubourdieu, in his Survey of the county of Antrim, remarks : 

 — " The jay was much more frequent before the woods at Port- 



* Mr. R. Davis, 1837. t Dr. Harvey of Cork. % Mr. R. Ball. 



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