8G THE BIRDS OF DEYOX. 



numerous instances in which this bird is stated to have been seen and 

 not obtained, although in the cases of other birds it would be incautious 

 to do so. We ourselves one day towards the end of the summer of 1873 

 are confident that we saw a Nutcracker when riding down the beautiful 

 stretch of the Bridgwater and Taunton Road which passes through 

 Cothelstone Park. A bird which was at once perceived to be a stranger 

 was perched upon a post at a short distance from the road, and its 

 speckled back and breast revealed to us what it was, Mr. Austin, the 

 ]jridgwater correspondent of Col. Montagu, saw a Nutcracker near 

 Bridgwater upon a Scotch fir in the autumn of 1805. Mr. T. Cosmo 

 ^felville in the 'Field' of August IGth, 1873, writing from Maunsell 

 House, near Bridgwater, about the same date that we saw the Xutcracker 

 mentioned above, stated that one was seen by himself and friends near 

 North Petherton. And we know of yet another Somerset Nutcracker, 

 for in a collection of birds belonging to the late Capt. Tomline, of Eum- 

 well House, near Taunton, we saw one which we were informed by him 

 had been shot close to Bath. 



A specimen was shot in North Devon in August 1808, which was pre- 

 served in the collection of Mr. Comyns, a gentleman who resided at Mount 

 Pleasant, Starcross, and had a large collection of birds (Montagu, Orn. 

 Diet., Suppl.). This collection was dispersed sometime between 1837 and 

 1848. Another Nutcracker was killed at Washford Pvne Moor, near 

 Tiverton, by Mr. \V. Tucker, of Dawlish, in 1829 (E. M.,Mag. Nat. Hist. 

 ]>>37, p. 179). Dr. A. G. C. Tucker mentions this species in his ' List of 

 Birds discovered in the neighbourhood of Ashburton,' and his sons include 

 it in the "List of Birds of the District" in Carrington's 'Dartmoor.' 

 Bellamy also says he believed it had been killed on Dartmoor (Nat. Hist. 

 S. Devon, p. 201). One was seen on the banks of Hooe Lake, in the 

 ])arish of Plymstock, by the late Mr. Thos. Bulteel (E. H. Eodd, Yarrell's 

 B. Birds, 2iid ed. ii. p. 127). Mr. J. Brooking Eowe thinks he saw one 

 in the woods at Saltram in October 1862 (Trans. Plym. Inst. 1863). 

 One was seen by !Mr. M. H. Ilotheram on July 14th, 1883, iu Huntsham 

 Woods, near Bideford, N. Devon ; and one was seen two years previously 

 at Instow, by Mr. C. F. Hinchliff (Zool. 1883, p. 338). 



A specimen in the possession of Mr. L. Sparrow, of Strode, near 

 Ivybridge. is believed by that gentleman to have been obtained by his 

 father (Pidsley, B. of Devonshire, p. 52). 



Jay. Garrulus glandarius (Linn.). 



[Jay Pie : Dev.'\ 



Eesident. Breeds. 



Confined to wooded parts of the county, only to be reported as still 

 common in those few woodland districts which are as yet safe from the 

 hands of keepers, who wage war against this handsome bird because of its 

 weakness for eggs. Like others of the Corvidae, the Jay feeds indiscri- 

 minately on insects, grain, fruit, young birds, eggs, mice, &c. The follow- 



