CORVID^. 87 



ing excellent account of the bird is from the pen of Col. llontagii : — 

 " i'he Jay is a cunning, crafty bird ; is a great devourer of fruit and 

 grain, and seems particularly fond of cherries and peas ; will frequently 

 plunder the smaller birds' nests of their eggs and young, and sometimes 

 pounce the old birds, on which it preys, as well as on mice. Its common 

 notes are various but harsh ; it will sometimes in the spring utter a sort 

 of song in a soft and pleasing manner, b\it so low as not to be heard at 

 any distance, and at intervals introduce the bleating of a lamb, mewing 

 of a cat, the note of a Kite or I3uzzard, hooting of an Owl, or even 

 neighing of a horse." We have never heard Jays " hooting," but have 

 often been deceived by their clever imitation of the soft mating notes of 

 the Brown Owl, and a young Jay we took from a nest in our shrubbery 

 and reared in the same room in which we kept rather an accomplished 

 Parrot very soon learned all the Parrot's words and phrases, and repeated 

 them in the same ludicrous voice, the consequence being that the Parrot, 

 jealous and indignant, for a long time maintained a sullen silence. The 

 late Mr. T. li. A. Priggs examined four young Jays on June 11th, 1852, 

 that had been shot, and ho found that the old birds had been feeding 

 them on the small round galls that are so common on oak-leaves. On 

 June 17th, 1857, he found a nest with nearly full-grown young ones 

 built in the fork of an apple-tree, with ivy growing around it, in an 

 orchard at Derriford. The old birds were exceedingly bold, and when he 

 was up in the tree appeared half inclined to fly at him. Their agitation 

 and clamour were excessive ; they Hew round, chattering and menacing 

 him, now cawing like a Pook, then mewing like a cat, and in their 

 extreme agitation actually plucking off leaves and biting off pieces of 

 dead twigs from neighbouring trees. Their solicitude pleased and amused 

 him much (MS. Notes). We were always glad to see Jays about our 

 grounds because of the entertainment they afforded us, and bore with 

 them in spite of considerable depredations in the garden, until one summer, 

 wishing to destroy the rats which were fast carrying off all our peas, we 

 spread about the garden pieces of bread and butter anointed with phos- 

 l)horus paste, and we were sorry to find that these had been eagerly 

 devoured by the Jays, whose dead bodies we found lying about our grounds. 

 It was se\eral years l)eforo we again had any Jays, for it seemed as if 

 intelligence of this fatal occuri'ence had been spread abroad by the survivors, 

 and our garden was for a long time avoided bj^ the Jays of the district. 

 Prom its fondness for the acorn, on which it largely feeds in the autumn, 

 the Jay has received tho specific name of glandariuf!. Its bright blue 

 wing-coverts are in great request for artificial Hies for salmon-fishing, and 

 its wings for ladies' hats. 



Magpie. Pica rustica (Scopoli). 



[Pie, Mock-a-pic, Piannet {N. D.) : Dcv.'] 



Resident, generally distributed and common. Breeds. 



" What a beautiful fureiirn bird !" is often the exclamation when wo 



