474 



us ; the same clucking note (which cannot be expressed in words) is heard once more, and they 

 soon again disappear in the same silent manner," 



The food of this bird consists of insects, small mammals, and, to some extent, berries of 

 various kinds. Pastor Sommerfelt states that when it has young it feeds them on reindeer meat, 

 which it steals when hung up to dry by the Laps. Like the Common Jay, it is said to attack 

 and devour young and weakly birds. Mr. E. Collett writes to me that " in the stomachs of 

 individuals snared in the woods in the neighbourhood of Christiania in the autumn and winter 

 I have found, besides rowan berries, bilberries, and various seeds, remains of a Sorex pygmceus, 

 and larvae of several insects (Geometridce and Noctuce). Like the Common Jay they also feed on 

 other birds, and are said to kill and eat Thrushes and other species of birds that are caught in 

 snares. I am sure that this predatory instinct is well known to other birds, and I have some- 

 times seen it mobbed by them as if it were a true bird of prey. In the summer of 1871, on the 

 Dovre, my attention was attracted by a shrill scream of anxiety uttered by a Redshank (Totanus 

 calidris), which was convoying her newly hatched young on a marsh covered with small, scattered 

 fir trees ; and I observed that a Siberian Jay was fluttering over the brood and clearly intended to 

 seize one of them." Dr. Sundstrom confirms what Mr. Collett says, and further states that " it is 

 more destructive to small birds than the Common Jay, and kills great numbers of them. It will also 

 feed on dead black game, Hazel-Grouse, and Ptarmigan which have been caught in snares." The 

 Siberian Jay breeds not uncommonly in East Finmark (Lapland), and is there a resident. Pastor 

 Sommerfelt writes that he obtained eggs taken in April and as late as the early part of May ; 

 according to that gentleman the bird commences to sit directly the first egg is deposited, in order 

 that the eggs may no tbe damaged by the severe cold, which is often as much as 20° Reaum. 

 below zero during the season the bird is sitting. Nor will the bird leave her nest however much 

 noise is made, nor yet when the tree is climbed, but she sits crouched close on her eggs, and 

 when lifted off and thrown on one side will immediately return to the nest, even whilst the 

 intruder is close to it. Mr. E. Collett, who has taken the eggs of this bird in Norway, informs 

 me " that the nest is not easy to obtain, as the snow at that season lies very deep in the forest. 

 In March or April it builds its very peculiar nest close to the stem of a pine or fir tree ; it is 

 constructed principally of grey lichens ( Usnea barbata and Everina scmnentosa), closely interwoven 

 with dry fir twigs stripped of their spines, a few of its own feathers and those of the Ptarmigan 

 being inserted here and there ; fragments of conifer foliage, pieces of other lichens (Parmelia 

 saxatilis), and the thin membranous bark of the fir are also interspersed. In the bottom there 

 are stalks of dry grass ; and, as unusual materials, I have seen leaves and fragments of a wasp's 

 nest. The outside diameter of the nest is 140 to 150 millimetres, inside 60 to 87 millimetres, 

 .height 110 to 120 millimetres. The eggs are from three to five in number, length 29 to 33 

 millimetres, breadth 20 to 22 millimetres; the size, however, varies considerably in the same 

 nest. In the southern parts of the country the eggs are often laid in the latter end of March or 

 early in April, in Lapland hardly before April. This bird sits very close, and can sometimes be 

 taken with the hand when on her nest." 



To Professor Newton I am indebted for the following details respecting the nidification 

 and habits of this bird, as observed by the late Mr. Wolley and himself in Lapland: — " I think 

 it may be confidently asserted that up to the year 1853 no one had placed on record the 



